Haptic Braille

The Haptic Braille is a mouse-like device that’s capable of translating ordinary text into braille on its surface. This means that the blind can read virtually anything the sighted can. The technology uses optical character recognition.

Braille E-Book

Visually challenged people require braille books in order to read. However, not many books are available in braille due to cost and inefficiency. Translating a 500 page book into braille nearly doubles the thickness. EAP is a technology that can dynamically change the surface pattern by way of an electromagnetic signal - simulating braille text. Not exactly a new idea but a nice executive nonetheless.

Designers: Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, Sun-Hye Woo & Jin-Sun Park

SENS Mobile Phone

[SENS] is a mobile phone designed to be more inclusive of people with visual impairment including complete blindness. The design was developed through a series of iterative user research, interviews, observations and testing with a group of young people with visual impairment from RNIB college, including complete blindness.

Key feature | Uniquely identifiable keys

Unique key forms
Key pad was designed so that all keys are different to each other whilst keeping visual uniformity in order to reduce unnecessary finger movements to locate where the finger is.

Observation and itnerviews with the user group revealed that the ‘blind man’s dimple’ on key5 on regular phones are either of very little help or useless in effectively knowing which key one is touching. Also, interestingly, it turned out that increaing the spacing between each key can also cause confusion. While this improves key recognition, it only informs the user of whether the location he is touching is a key or not and does not inform WHICH key it is.
Key feature | Realtime Audio Feedback

Feedback upon detection of touching In order to improve audio interactions between the user and the phone, [SENS] combines touch sensors and regular mechanical keys to provide real-time audio feedbacks. What this means is that when a user touches a key, the phone tells him what key has been touched without actually registering it as an input. The user may hover across the keys to consecutively gain feedbacks on which key they are touching.

Confirmation of registered input Once the user is sure his finger is on the correct key, he then can press the key just like on any other standard phones. Once a key is pressed, another ‘click’ sound is fed back to confirm the input. This system is essentially just an audio version of what people without sight problems always utilises; visual indications. This provides more effecient interactions and reduces the chance of making wrong inputs compared to current products used by people with visual impairment as they only provide audio feedbacks after key inputs are registered.

Key feature | Tap to toggle input modes

Incorporating touch sensing and mechanical input on a single key provides additional benefit of software flexibility. In this case, a prototype was developed to give easy toggling method. Double tapping a key like double clicking on a mouse toggles the input mode and corresponding audio feedback is given.

For example, if key 2 is continuously tapped at a certain speed, input mode will be toggled and audio feedbacks will be given like so: “2, a, b, c, 2, a, b, c …” In addition, different menu items like [contact lists], [text messages], [internet] etc. can be respectively liked to the dial keys and may be accessed through the same toggling method, in which case the feedback can be “2, text messages, a, b, c, 2….”
Key feature | Integrated headset for better convenience and flexibility

One of the biggest issues with ‘talking’ phones is that the sound interaction can be heard by other people nearby. Using a headset wired or wireless (if Bluetooth is available) can solve the problem, however having a headset integrated to the main phone can offer a number of advantages.

First of alll, it reduces the hassle of carrying two devices all the time. Secondly having the two together reduces the risk of loss and ensures the user where the headset is. Lastly headset can be charged via the main phone thus, again, simplfies the required user actions.

Key feature | Basic yet effective visual cues

Confirmation of registered input

Most visually impaired people have some degree of sight although their severity may vary. However, those who can sense light intensity often utilises such information to help themselves understand conditions of their surroundings. Some users I have worked with utilises the screen brightness of their Nokia phones to check if the phone is active or not. By providing large colour illumination on the side, [SENS] phone exploits the most basic level of visual capability as well as hearing one to offer better usability for those with some degree of sight.

Different colour illumination can indicate some basic phone status such as low battery indication, incoming calls and messages.

“Tactility” Phone for Blind with Fashion

So check it out. We’ve had several cells for the blind here, and they’ve all been just lovely. This one, though, this one hits a sharper note. This one is closer to actual reality now, with the super simple 3D braille face, functionality and instant ease to produce go a long way. This one, Siwei Liu’s “Tactility” phone, uses technology we’ve already got today to make a phone that’ll be good at least until tomorrow.

And wouldn’t it just go with everything? It’s the real deal, too, you can tell by the little hole at the bottom there where you can loop a tie through to hang from you lanyard or belt or whatever else you do with that sort of thing.

Most important: it’d match my new full-body TRON outfit. That light on the side there… Trontastic.

Designer: Siwei Liu

"S.V.L.T" Blind And Deaf Communication

I really never gave it a thought before this, but how will a blind and a deaf person communicate with each other? One can’t hear the voices and the other can’t see the sign gestures! Both can’t learn each other’s special language; or can they? It may seem like a presumptuous situation, but something like the Sign Voice Language Translator (or SVLT) can offer a solution. The device acts like a translator, converting gestures in voice and voice into written text. I’d like to see a video of people testing this thing!

Designer: Han-na Lee

Stick For Blind With Eyes

It is the familiar red and white stick, but with enhanced features that make it quite a practical solution for blind commuters. The Eye Stick is fitted with a sensor lens towards the bottom part, from where it picks up location bearings, like is the person nearing a staircase, or is he near the traffic lights. It then sends feedback to the blind commuter via vibrations, communicating the scenario, so that the person can be aware of his surroundings and take his next step with confidence.

Designer: Wonjune Song

The Braille Phone

Hello there! I want to tell you about the thing called “collective conscious”: It’s a theory which says we (humans) all share, on some level, the same databank of knowledge, learning and creating together. Keeping that in mind, take a look at this, Seon-Keun Park’s braille-central phone: the second universally accessible phone we’ve discovered here on Yanko in so many weeks!

Right after (or right before) you take a peek at this design, be sure to check out the version that Seunghan Song designed. Compare and contrast! Then look at this! It’s got raised and lowered portions to create braille using what’s called Electric Active Plastic (EAP!) Several different modes can be activated: text, braille numbers, roman-character numbers, and off (all lowered.)

It can send and receive phone calls and texts, displaying texts in braille in the space normally reserved for a screen on the average phone.

Designer: Seon-Keun Park

Touch Feely Navigation

Touch & Go is a navigation system for the blind folks to make them autonomous in the “outside world”. A combo of a hand gadget with earpiece, the system is a wearable navigator with a tactile display that shows the directions as a relief map. The scale used is 1:1000 and plum in the center of it is the user’s position. An arrow indicates the direction the user has to move in and auditory support is provided via the earphone (fitted with an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver). The main device fastens to the back of the hand, it’s quite convenient to carry it around.

Designer: Natalia Ponomareva

No More Overspills Even If You Are Blind

Try this, blindfold yourself and pour a glass of water without spilling it over. Ok, make this tougher, fill in exactly ¾ th cup. Tough? Yeah, that’s how hard it is for the blind people to fill in mugs of beverages without spilling. Dipping the pinkie to anticipate the levels is ok for cold stuff, but what about scalding hot coffee! The Braun Bell Mug has 3 indicative levels on the handle and liquid-level sensors within the mug. The blind folks only need to choose their levels and keep pouring till the bell sounds.

Designers: Sang-hoon Lee and Yong-bum Lim

"Haptic Reader" Now you can Read A Non-Braille Book

Haptic Reader is a concept device that features an innovative way of helping blind people on reading non-Braille books. This device incorporates a flat glass surface that converts the letters of a page into Braille characters and projects them on the flat surface of this device when the user places it on a book. Moreover, this device also helps those people who don’t know reading Braille characters through the embedded speaker. The device can scan the text and convert it into voice which is played via the speaker. The handy device is designed in a simple way and is very much convenient to use.

Designers: David Lee, Yuna Kim & Hansub Lee

Make a label for the Blind Peoples

Sighted friends, you have the advantage of picking Coke over Pepsi simply by picking red over blue. What will my sight-impaired friends do? Nothing much, but ask you to help out picking the preferred soda pop. However wouldn’t it be convenient for both if there was a label in Braille stuck to the can? Yup, that would be convenient!

Designers: Soonkyu Jang, Jieun Seo & Seung-un Kim