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Proximity Sensor for the blind

Hi,

I am assisting a a student with a project. He wants to create sort of a
proximinity sensor for the "blind". That would assist vision impaired
indiviual, who cant afford a seeing eye dog. It would be in addtion to
the specialezed walking cane.

Any idea where to begin?
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I am assisting a a student with a project. He wants to create sort of a
proximinity sensor for the "blind". That would assist vision impaired
indiviual, who cant afford a seeing eye dog. It would be in addtion to
the specialezed walking cane.

Any idea where to begin?

---
How about an ultrasonic SONAR which he wears on a hat which beeps
one audible tone when it transmits and another when it receives?
The blind guy will get an idea of range to a "target" by the time
between the two different beeps and he won't get confused by which
is which.

Ya might even call it the BatHat and send me $1 for each one you
sell. Want a schematic?
 
Hi,

I am assisting a a student with a project. He wants to create sort of a
proximinity sensor for the "blind". That would assist vision impaired
indiviual, who cant afford a seeing eye dog. It would be in addtion to
the specialezed walking cane.

Any idea where to begin?

20 or 30 years ago "wireless world" magazine held a competition for
electronic gadjets to help the disabled. The winner was an ultra sound
transmitter/reciever array built into specticle frames the output was
audio into earpieces on the frame legs.
 
P

Paul Burke

Jan 1, 1970
0
20 or 30 years ago "wireless world" magazine held a competition for
electronic gadjets to help the disabled. The winner was an ultra sound
transmitter/reciever array built into specticle frames the output was
audio into earpieces on the frame legs.

Do I take it theat these proved no use in service, as I've never seen or
heard of a blind person using one?

Paul Burke
 
Paul said:
Do I take it theat these proved no use in service, as I've never seen or
heard of a blind person using one?

They take some getting used to, and at least one user has complained
that the old SonicGuide was heavy enough to hurt the ears if worn for
any length of time.

Have a look at

http://www.acoustics.org/press/140th/kay.htm

IIRR one of my ex-girl-friends did a masters degree with Kay in New
Zealand, back in the early 1960's, and the relatively bulky and
primnitive device that her blind subjects used worked remarkably well.

Whether the OP could usefully get into competition with Kay is an open
question - there is obviously some kind of problem with his device, and
somebody coming at it from outside might conceivably be able to see
some way of avoiding a problem that Kay hasn't be able to solve in some
forty years of trying.

Kay ought to know about polyvinylidene fluoride as an ultrsound
transducer - it's been around for at least thrity years - so that
probably won't offer any breakthroughs.

http://www.media.mit.edu/resenv/classes/MAS836/Readings/MSI-techman.pdf
 
M

Mark

Jan 1, 1970
0
They take some getting used to, and at least one user has complained
that the old SonicGuide was heavy enough to hurt the ears if worn for
any length of time.

Have a look at

http://www.acoustics.org/press/140th/kay.htm

IIRR one of my ex-girl-friends did a masters degree with Kay in New
Zealand, back in the early 1960's, and the relatively bulky and
primnitive device that her blind subjects used worked remarkably well.

Whether the OP could usefully get into competition with Kay is an open
question - there is obviously some kind of problem with his device, and
somebody coming at it from outside might conceivably be able to see
some way of avoiding a problem that Kay hasn't be able to solve in some
forty years of trying.

Kay ought to know about polyvinylidene fluoride as an ultrsound
transducer - it's been around for at least thrity years - so that
probably won't offer any breakthroughs.

http://www.media.mit.edu/resenv/classes/MAS836/Readings/MSI-techman.pdf


I would guess that a blind person has a highly developed sense of
hearing and uses that hearing to navigate the environment. So any
device that beeps and interferes with "hearing" the environement might
be counter-productive...

But an ultasonic ranging device that created some kind of tactile or
other output might be helpful...

Mark
 
C

Charlie Edmondson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Paul said:
Do I take it theat these proved no use in service, as I've never seen or
heard of a blind person using one?

Paul Burke
My wife has tried a few of them on, and finds that they all driver her
crazy. The high tones, constantly shifting and changing, hurts her
ears, and most of them are pretty bulky and heavy.

Charlie
 
C

Christopher

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am assisting a a student with a project. He wants to create sort of a
proximinity sensor for the "blind". That would assist vision impaired
indiviual, who cant afford a seeing eye dog. It would be in addtion to
the specialezed walking cane.

Any idea where to begin?

Hello,

This is a very challenging area that interested me some twenty-five
years ago as my uncle who inspired my electronic gadget making from an
early age was also blind and going deaf as the years progressed. But
that's another story. Today Lev Termen a great thinker from the early
twentieth century influences my experimentation in the area of
proximity detection. A novel approach of what you're attempting to do
might just be hidden in my current research. What ever path you choose
let the project guide you and don't force it into a preconceived box.

RS Theremin
http://www.oldtemecula.com/theremin/

****
Here is a webpage that sells a commercial sonic approach.
http://www.batforblind.co.nz/index.htm
****

Good Luck,

* * *
Christopher

Temecula CA.USA
http://www.oldtemecula.com
 
Mark said:
I would guess that a blind person has a highly developed sense of
hearing and uses that hearing to navigate the environment. So any
device that beeps and interferes with "hearing" the environement might
be counter-productive...

But an ultasonic ranging device that created some kind of tactile or
other output might be helpful...

The device Kay has developed illuminates the area in front of the user
with ultrasound, and detects the reflected signal with two separate
(and separated) receivers. The receiver outptus are combined to produce
audio-frequency difference signals which the useres can learn to
process to acquire quite a good image of the area in front of them.

Charlie Edmondson's wife would seem to be representative of the people
who can't or won't learn to process the noise into images. The claim
that the units are bulky and awkward also comes up in the comments of
people who like the devices, and would seem to be something that modern
electronics could do a lot about.

http://www.wayfinding.net/consumerview.htm

http://www.batforblind.co.nz/history.htm
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
My wife has tried a few of them on, and finds that they all driver her
crazy. The high tones, constantly shifting and changing, hurts her
ears, and most of them are pretty bulky and heavy.

I had occasion to handle a blind guy's stick one time, and the end
wasn't just a plain stick - there was a flat washer mounted to the
end of the stick with some sort of rivet, loosely, so that when
the tip hit stuff it made more noise than just a stick tip hitting
something. I believe they actually hear that, and do a form of
echolocation. Heck, I could close my eyes, and _I_ could navigate
reasonably well by listening to the stick.

Cheers!
Rich
 
C

Christopher

Jan 1, 1970
0
I had occasion to handle a blind guy's stick one time, and the end
wasn't just a plain stick - there was a flat washer mounted to the
end of the stick with some sort of rivet, loosely, so that when
the tip hit stuff it made more noise than just a stick tip hitting
something. I believe they actually hear that, and do a form of
echolocation. Heck, I could close my eyes, and _I_ could navigate
reasonably well by listening to the stick.

Hello Rich,

I agree, nothing could replace the cain for simple effectiveness. I
think what many blind people want in a navigational aid is not
identifying that a block wall is 10 feet in front of them rather a
person about two feet away in the Shopping Mall is about to get their
leg tapped. Listening is another effect personal tool so adding noisy
navigational gadgets are going to interfere with this.

Such a challenging project and all these engineers ARE holding back...
hum



* * *
Christopher

Temecula CA.USA
http://www.oldtemecula.com
 
E

ehsjr

Jan 1, 1970
0
Christopher said:
Such a challenging project and all these engineers ARE holding back...
hum

Unfair and innaccurate. John Fields was right there in the
very first reply and asked the OP if he wanted a schematic.

It has been 8 days, and the OP has not responded. If anyone
is holding back, it's the OP, who has not seen fit either to
give John the courtesy of a reply or to comment on any of the
other respondent's posts. But for all you or I know, the OP
and John may be working merilly away at this via Email.

You owe Fields an apology. He was right there, 22 minutes
after the OP, with an offer to help. And if you've followed
the various threads, you'd know that the circuits John
provides are *good*.

Ed
 
C

Christopher

Jan 1, 1970
0
Unfair and innaccurate. John Fields was right there in the
very first reply and asked the OP if he wanted a schematic.

It has been 8 days, and the OP has not responded. If anyone
is holding back, it's the OP, who has not seen fit either to
give John the courtesy of a reply or to comment on any of the
other respondent's posts. But for all you or I know, the OP
and John may be working merilly away at this via Email.

You owe Fields an apology. He was right there, 22 minutes
after the OP, with an offer to help. And if you've followed
the various threads, you'd know that the circuits John
provides are *good*.

Ed
How about an ultrasonic SONAR which he wears on a hat which beeps
one audible tone when it transmits and another when it receives?
The blind guy will get an idea of range to a "target" by the time
between the two different beeps and he won't get confused by which
is which.
Ya might even call it the BatHat and send me $1 for each one you
sell. Want a schematic?

Hello Ed,

I apologize John, your stamina and knowledge in these electronic
newsgroups is legendary. I noticed this immediately when I arrived two
weeks ago.

When I made my statement it was to gather other methods or ideas from
this vast news knowledge base that might be practical for this type of
application. I am always hunting for a better idea. It's personal. :)

Kind regards,

* * *
Christopher

Temecula CA.USA
http://www.oldtemecula.com
 
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