A new communication aid for the handicapped
A new communication aid for the handicapped
People with bad speech impediments are unable to communicate rapidly and effectively. A review is given of the various categories of speech . impediment and the range of communication aids available. This shows that although many communication aids of various forms are available, a need exists for a highly portable device which can be carried around and used anywhere and which preserves the interactive nature of normal conversation. Recent advances in microelectronics have made such a device possible. This thesis describes an aid comprising a small hand held keyboard and an electroluminescent:display which can be worn in a top pocket so that it is positioned close too the 'talker's' face. This arrangement enables one to look at the person talking and it allows the message to be read whilst it is being typed,' rather than waiting until the end as with a written note.The display needed to be)read across a normal sized room and yet its size was strictly:limited. The solution adopted was to use a display similar to the 'newscasters' used on some buildings, with the. letters of the message moving smoothly across the display window from right to left. A prototype aid of this form was designed and constructed, using a display matrix of Light-Emitting Diodes.' Experiences with this prototype indicated that the idea was sound and that a demand existed for such a device. Reading tests, using a computer simulation, showed that a display with smooth motion approximated by moving the letters along one column of the display matrix at a time could be read more quickly -end accurately than one with the motion in steps of one letter at a time. The effect of display length' was investigated and a five- letter display was chosen as a good balance between cost and readability, allowing reading at speeds of between 200 and 300 words per minute with some concentration whilst permitting a high accuracy at typing speeds,:of: 50 to 100 words per minute.Same further improvements have bean made to the design and a small' production run is now being made by the University of Southampton's Wolf car Industrial Unit, for evaluation in operational use.
University of Southampton
Brumfitt, Peter Jonathan
63e4c0f9-aaee-4ab7-a6c4-128fd450565b
1976
Brumfitt, Peter Jonathan
63e4c0f9-aaee-4ab7-a6c4-128fd450565b
Brumfitt, Peter Jonathan
(1976)
A new communication aid for the handicapped.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
People with bad speech impediments are unable to communicate rapidly and effectively. A review is given of the various categories of speech . impediment and the range of communication aids available. This shows that although many communication aids of various forms are available, a need exists for a highly portable device which can be carried around and used anywhere and which preserves the interactive nature of normal conversation. Recent advances in microelectronics have made such a device possible. This thesis describes an aid comprising a small hand held keyboard and an electroluminescent:display which can be worn in a top pocket so that it is positioned close too the 'talker's' face. This arrangement enables one to look at the person talking and it allows the message to be read whilst it is being typed,' rather than waiting until the end as with a written note.The display needed to be)read across a normal sized room and yet its size was strictly:limited. The solution adopted was to use a display similar to the 'newscasters' used on some buildings, with the. letters of the message moving smoothly across the display window from right to left. A prototype aid of this form was designed and constructed, using a display matrix of Light-Emitting Diodes.' Experiences with this prototype indicated that the idea was sound and that a demand existed for such a device. Reading tests, using a computer simulation, showed that a display with smooth motion approximated by moving the letters along one column of the display matrix at a time could be read more quickly -end accurately than one with the motion in steps of one letter at a time. The effect of display length' was investigated and a five- letter display was chosen as a good balance between cost and readability, allowing reading at speeds of between 200 and 300 words per minute with some concentration whilst permitting a high accuracy at typing speeds,:of: 50 to 100 words per minute.Same further improvements have bean made to the design and a small' production run is now being made by the University of Southampton's Wolf car Industrial Unit, for evaluation in operational use.
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Published date: 1976
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Local EPrints ID: 462675
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462675
PURE UUID: 038b3420-fee9-44f6-8232-65dad2dfab11
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 19:40
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 01:08
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Author:
Peter Jonathan Brumfitt
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