- From: Kristina Seyer Smith <kristina@bonair.Stanford.EDU>
- Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 21:13:47 -0700
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
W3C-WAI Colleagues: My husband forwarded me this story that was featured last week on Yahoo. I thought you might find this interesting. Regards, Kristina > Thursday April 12 10:07 PM ET >Israeli Computer Mouse Helps the Blind to 'See' >Photos > >Reuters Photo > > > >By Danielle Haas > >JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli hi-tech company has produced a computer >mouse that acts as the eyes of the blind and partially-sighted by helping >them view computer graphics through touch. > >Growing dependence on graphics and ``mice'' to navigate screens in >increasingly computer-based societies have limited the ability of the >partially-sighted to use new technology. > >Manufacturers tout the VirTouch system (VTS), which lets the blind ``see'' >the delicate strokes of a sketch by the artist Pablo Picasso or the >outline of countries on a map, as a ''quantum leap'' toward their >integration into the world of the sighted. > >``It breaks with the past by adding graphics to the universe of the blind >person,'' said Art Braunstein, corporate relations director at VirTouch Ltd. > >The company has integrated existing computer products for the blind and >partially-sighted that are based on text-to-speech software and the >Braille alphabet, with a device that acts both as a mouse and a tactile >display. > >VTS allows the blind to recognize graphic shapes, pictures, play tactile >computer games and read text in normal letters or Braille by placing >fingers on three pads that respond when a cursor on the computer screen >touches a graphic or letter. > >``The system is not only based on touch, but the user can listen to the >representation with an audio device and see the image if they have sight. >It's really the first multi-sensual device for the blind,'' said company >founder Roman Gouzman. > >Pins On The Pad > >Thirty-two pins on each pad move up in a black area, down in a white area >and somewhere in the middle for gray zones. > >The different heights enable the blind person to feel the curvature of >lines and shading of computer graphics, or Braille symbols or standard >alphabet letters when reading text. > >Users can pretend to be racing drivers by steering a car along a winding >road using the sense of the raised pins to keep to the right path, or >practice archery by aiming for a bulls-eye target using the same technique. > >Photos > >Reuters Photo > > >``We sighted people use symbolic representation to be more efficient,'' >Gouzman said. > >``This special software teaches the blind to use the same symbols as we do >to study geography, maths, biology, for example which was thought to be >virtually impossible before,'' he said. > >A Russian immigrant to Israel, Gouzman was inspired to develop the mouse >after a skiing accident in the former Soviet Union left his daughter with >permanent eye damage, and said he does not believe VTS faces a significant >market competitor. > >Gouzman and his partner Igor Karasin began work from their kitchen table >on the four-year project to create the special mouse, using blind people >to test the device as they went. > >The VirTouch system, which hit the markets in September 2000 and retails >for just under $5,000, has found a receptive audience with institutions in >Israel and abroad. > >Among those interested is Israel's Ministry of Education, which has bought >30 systems and agreed to study the introduction of the technology in >schools throughout the country. > >In January, VirTouch signed an agreement with a Dutch social venture fund >to secure $1.25 million in equity financing and has signed up distributors >in several European countries. > >The VirTouch system may yet prove effective in giving the blind a >collective voice as well as helping them to ``see.'' > >``As the technology catches on and becomes more prominent, the blind are >going to demand more Web sites giving them parallel graphic images of >pictures,'' Braunstein predicted. ``It may even help advance legislation >for the disabled as they demand the right to have the same technology as >the sighted.'' > >The Jerusalem-based company anticipates the estimated 20 million blind and >partially sighted people in the Western world alone are part of an even >larger potential market. > >The audio component could help the dyslexic as they hear the text at the >same time as they read, while the use of the palm and the motoric system >to move and manipulate the mouse may assist those suffering motor >coordination difficulties. > Kristina Seyer Smith Manager of Maps and Records Spatial Information/GIS Facilities Operations, Maps and Records 327 Bonair Siding Stanford, CA 94305-7270 650-723-0594 Voice 650-723-7905 FAX mailto:seyersmith@stanford.edu http://www-facilities.stanford.edu/maps
Received on Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:15:20 UTC