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Georgia Tech iPhone App Could Help Blind Users Text
MojoKid writes "Researchers at Georgia Tech university have built a prototype app for touch-screen mobile devices that is vying to be a complete solution for texting without the need to look at a mobile gadget's screen. In theory, it should greatly help the blind interact with mobile phones, but it could help just about anyone looking for a more efficient way to interact. Research has shown that gesture-based texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text. The free open-source app, called BrailleTouch, incorporates the Braille writing system used by the visually impaired. Early studies with visually impaired participants proficient in Braille typing have demonstrated that users can input up to 32 words per minute with 92 percent accuracy with the prototype app for the iPhone."
more people driving and texting~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
This would be great for me, if only I knew braille. I would love to be able to text on my smartphone without looking -- that's the biggest regret I have for switching away from my old clamshell. I could text about 50wpm without looking on that thing. Swype is okay, but it's rather difficult without looking.
I thought the iPhone supported most assistive devices, like braille keyboards, and "reading sticks" (those that can pop up a line of braille using small nubs, dunno what they're called in English) already?
uses an older flip phone with an old-fashioned dialing pad. He texts by sound and feel, and faster than I can on my keyboard-less smartphone. Oh, and he paid $100 less for his phone and $20 less per month thanks to the fact that he doesn't NEED an iPhone or a data plan. While I feel like the research might have its heart in the right place, a much simpler solution appears to already exist.
I have an iPhone because it was free (used) and the (cheapest possible) data plan is manageable for what it gets me. I hate, despise, and detest the onscreen keyboard (I know people who have returned iPhones for that reason alone, as would have I if I paid what this thing cost new.)
I'd be open to something like this except I don't text/email enough to be worth the learning curve. Maybe that would change if it wasn't such a pain to do.
I've enjoyed having a smartphone, but I definitely wouldn't get another iPhone; I might try an Android or WinPhone, or just go back to my $25 Samsung when this one dies.
...and I can't even come close to 32wpm on my smartphone (I tend to fat-finger my letters and spend more time back-spacing or looking for auto-completed words than typing). I've tried all the various gimmicks such as Swype and T9, but if this system is really netting users 30+wpm, I think it's time for me to learn Braille.
Some alternate forms of communication are fairly hard since they are a whole new language. Sign language is like that. You have to learn symbols for words, and the grammar and vocabulary are not the same as English. So learning it is as difficult as learning a foreign language, more perhaps since it is visual not auditory.
However Braille is just character mapping. Things are spelled the same, they are just using a different character set. So all you have to do is learn how to understand the characters, or rather the feel of them, and you are good.
There are some abbreviations for more advanced Braille, but that comes later. The basics are just what dot patters equal what letters. Really not very hard to learn.
There are already several versions available on android.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/18/new-app-turns-a-tablet-into-a-braille-keyboard/
And specially this one:
http://www.ankitdaf.com/projects/BrailleType/
Georgia tech is basically ripping off this guy.
Isn't that what Siri does anyway?
My blind friend uses an older flip phone with an old-fashioned dialing pad. He texts by sound and feel, and faster than I can on my keyboard-less smartphone.
Most Filipinos can text blind.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
The school responsible for this work is the Georgia Institute of Technology, not Georgia Tech University.
As a ham radio operator, I still dont understand why we havnt been able to push morse code as a quick eyes free solution to texting.
It only requires one hand and if the interface was designed correctly, It would take input from the touch screen at any location on it. Just simple dots and dashes (taps and holds).
by which I mean I can use the phone to make a phone call.
First, it should be noted that the iPhone is very popular with blind people because they can send text as it without need of additional software.
Second, few sighted people will take the time to learn to write without looking at what they are writing.
Three, it would still be dangerous to text and drive.Follow the link and you see that two hands are used (as is typically with a braille writer).
Four, 35 words per minute is nothing if the blind person knows contractions. The work knowledge can be put in with two strokes. There are many contractions in braille.
Five, there are so many contractions in braille that few sighted people would have the patience to learn half of them.
So the real story is that someone is writing software that will be nice for blind people to have. That is a cool story. But this is not some uber life changing event story that will save the poor downtrodden blind dude from not being able to send a text.
Sorry folks. I know this isn't really the point of the topic, but it's the Georgia Institute of Technology not the Georgia Tech University. Probably not a big deal to most folks, but it irks me for some reason.
It's the Georgia *Institute* of Technology, not a university. /pendantic /alum
Seriously? Seriously?!?! Why is this necessary? I really don't get texting. It's such a backward form of communication. Star Trek never used texting. Space: 1999 had video chatting. I personally refuse to text and don't have a texting plan on my phone. If I need to talk to someone, I'll make a regular phone call. It's more efficient for getting a straight answer and you'll have a much better idea of the emotional component to communication.
But what about those who lack the coordination or motor skills to type multi-chord keys? For them, Georgia Tech (or someone) needs to develop an app along roughly these lines:
Swipe to Type
Here’s an alternate text input technique for the iPhone and similar devices that might be faster and more accurate for many people. It uses a feature the iPhone already has, a multi-touch screen, rather than external hardware such as a collapsible Bluetooth keyboard. You not only don’t have to look at the screen, with a little practice you can enter text in the dark even while bouncing around in a car, bus or subway. And since the only requirements for text input are basic hand coordination and a sense of touch, it makes the iPhone much more usable for the visually impaired and those with limited hand-eye coordination.
What is it?
* It uses a well-established open source standard—International Morse Code. But instead of short and long key presses, dots are input by short swipes and dashes by long swipes.
* Speed of input doesn't matter. Unlike regular Morse, which assumes a pause in sending to be a break between letters, user input can be as slow or fast as the users wants without error. Letters are distinguished by alternating swiping right and left. A user-set delay inputs the last character, i.e. one not followed by a swipe in a different direction. Users can also set the ratio between long and short swipes.
* Swipe mode changes when the user rotates the screen.
* Because International Morse Code is already optimized for fast input in many languages, text can be entered very fast. The more often a letter is used, the shorter its Morse Code equivalent is. An e is a single short swipe and a T is a single long swipe. It couldn't be easier.
Additional Features
Morse input would also take advantage of a touch screen’s flexibility to add features that International Morse Code doesn’t have. Examples include:
* Lowercase letters are made by swiping left-to-right then right-to-left.
* Uppercase letters are made by swiping down-to-up and then up-to-down.
* Other gestures can be used. Common punctuation uses diagonal swipes, i.e. upper-left to lower-right for a space, lower-left to upper-right for a period or a period plus space. Diagonal swipes with two or three fingers could have other meanings.
* Circling CCW might delete the previous character for each circle. Circling CW might enter a Return. Alternately, a short shake of the iPhone deletes the previous letter, while a longer shake deletes the previous word.
* Because text input is always a swipe that doesn't need for anything to be displayed for it to work, the entire screen is free for other uses, either display or touching without swiping. It can be used to display the text being entered, to have buttons for commands, or to show a chart for those just learning Morse. This makes maximum use of scarce screen space.
* Certain easy-to-make touches could be used to make common commands easy to do. Touching the keyboard with another finger, perhaps the thumb in the lower-left corner for right-handed people, might signify something. For instance, it might bring up a scrolling list of long, user-set text strings (i.e. a phone number or address) from which the user could select. Inside applications, it could be used for something important. Inside an email program, for instance, it could send the just-entered email. Inside a writing program, it could be used to start a new paragraph.
* In learner mode, the screen would display the Morse alphabet and text input would be on a scrolling line. Letters or words could be spoken as typed to speed up learning and accuracy.
For those willing to learn Morse, which is far easier than most people think (especially for sending), it offers a fast, virtually error-free text interface for the iPhone, one that has tactile feedback built into the design. Most important of all, it’s a text input technique that doesn
I thought dictation was the way to go. Of course, Apple must add support for more languages.
Oh sorry, this is slashdot, I posted a pro-Apple comment. Shoot me.
I even provided video evidence of myself doing so. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc10jc6w7OY
And I'm on a crummy old android phone. iphones are supposed to be considerably more accessible.
Yes, braille-style input may benefit some blind people who are more used to braille than they are used to using a traditional keyboard, but they are a minority. This stuff already works for most of us, and it has for years.
Ever since apple Put Voiceover in iOS blind users have been texting and typing on the touch screen.
There is also a pretty neat product availible that uses a screen protector as an over overlay to put tactile braille markings on the iPhone keyboard. http://www.speeddots.com
Blind people can type almost as fast as a regular sighted person once they get used to using the touch screen.