Assistive
Technologies:
How NIST Helps People with Disabilities
For more than 100 years, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology has developed and promoted measurement,
standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade,
and improve the quality of life. A variety of NIST activities and
technologies benefit the disabled, as described in the examples
below. NIST is a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Technologies
for the Blind and Visually Impaired
NIST
has developed two prototype technologies to help the blind
read electronic text and “feel”
electronic images. The patented technologies are available for
licensing by the private sector for
commercialization.
The
NIST Braille reader transforms electronic text into the patterns
of raised dots used by the blind to read.
The device can be
used for reviewing e-mail, browsing the World Wide Web, and
other text-based applications. The NIST reader uses software
to translate
text into
Braille, which is displayed at a user-selected speed on a
rotating wheel. NIST estimates that the reader could be manufactured
for
about $1,000, much less than commercial devices carrying
price
tags as high as $15,000. Much of the cost savings result
from the use of only three actuators—the mechanical devices
that form Braille letters—compared to the hundreds
in commercial readers.
The
NIST tactile graphic display enables the blind to use
their fingers to feel electronic images, such as scanned
illustrations
and map outlines. The National Federation of the Blind
has field tested the device, which uses software to create a
simplified
line drawing of an electronic image and present that drawing
in a tactile display. About 3,600 small pins in a rectangular
array
are automatically raised in the appropriate pattern under
computer control, and locked into place for reading. The
pins then can
be withdrawn and reset in a new pattern, allowing the tactile
reading
to continue through a variety of images. The device, inspired
by a “bed of nails” toy found in a novelty
store, is projected to cost an estimated $2,000 or less,
about 1/20th
the cost of similar
commercial devices.
For
more information, visit www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/visual_display.htm. An updated project Web page is in preparation.
Contact:
John Roberts, (301) 975-5683, john.roberts@nist.gov.
Hearing
Aids Metrology
NIST
supports the design and use of better hearing aids by developing
test and measurement methods
and participating
in voluntary standards
activities that benefit manufacturers, distributors,
and users of hearing aids. This work is performed in
a dedicated echo-free
chamber with computer-controlled test systems.
A long-standing NIST program sponsored by the Department
of Veterans
Affairs
(VA), the largest U.S. consumer of hearing aids,
has provided data on
hearing aid performance to audiologists working
in active-duty military hospitals, as well as VA and private-sector
clinicians, researchers, and consultants.
NIST
is currently collaborating with the VA to establish new test
and signal processing
methods to accommodate
ever-more-sophisticated hearing aids. Recent
technological advances have led to
the development
of much smaller microphones, requiring the
development and analysis of smaller microphone coupler techniques
and associated
metrology
infrastructure. In addition, more sophisticated
hearing aids with signal and microphone array processing demand
the development
of
more complex testing methods. A key issue is
the measurement
of directional properties to help design hearing
aids that enable
users to better understand speech in the presence
of interfering sounds and reverberation.
Contact:
Victor Nedzelnitsky, (301) 975-6638, victor.nedzelnitsky@nist.gov.
Accessibility
and Usability of Voting Technology
Enacted
by Congress in October 2002, the Help America Vote Act gives
NIST a key role in helping
realize nationwide improvements in voting systems by January
2006.
NIST’s
initial activities include preparing a voting system usability
and accessibility
report that looks at the
impact of
human factors on the effectiveness
of election-related technologies. NIST computer scientists
are reviewing
existing voting system
standards in light of a growing body
of research and best practices in the
areas of usability engineering and
testing, human-computer inter-action, and human factors. Also,
an
expert
panel on usability and accessibility
was convened at the recent NIST Building
Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems Symposium held
in December
2003.
For
more information, visit http://vote.nist.gov.
Contact:
Allan Eustis, (301) 975-5099, allan.eustis@nist.gov.
Biomedical
Materials and Devices
NIST
assists the biomedical device industry through the development
of standards,
measurement and calibration
methods, and other
products and services. Assistive
technology projects include
research
on
manufacturing and processing
of prosthetic devices. NIST
has a reputation as a neutral,
objective source of information in technical
matters and a long history
of working with the technical and industrial
communities to promote acceptance
and
use of new standards, methods,
and technologies. Existing
activities, as well as suggested priority
tasks for the
future,
were summarized in a
recent workshop.
For
more information, visit www.nist.gov/public_affairs/Biomedical_Materials.pdf.
Contact:
Newell Washburn, (301) 975-4348, newell.washburn@nist.gov.
Smart
Space Technologies
The
disabled could benefit from “smart work spaces” of
the future, which
will feature built-in computers, information appliances, and
multi-modal
sensors such as voice
recognition
systems. Smart spaces
will enable people to perform tasks efficiently by
offering unprecedented
levels of access to information and computer assistance. These
spaces will incorporate advances
in
perceptual
interfaces, information
appliances that move freely between work spaces offering unprecedented
mobility and
networking,
and
wireless
computers carried
and worn by workers. The NIST Smart Space project involves
establishing
a testbed and developing
measurement,
standards,
and means of interoperability
for integrating numerous
computing devices. The testbed
also will be used for prototype implementation
of the information
technology accessibility architecture developed by the International
Committee for Information
Technology Standards.
For
more information, visit www.nist.gov/smartspace/.
Contact:
Vincent Stanford, (301) 975-5399, vincent.stanford@nist.gov.
Automatic
Meeting Transcription
Hearing
impaired and physically disabled persons are among those who
could benefit from
automated transcription of
meetings.
Existing automatic speech
recognition systems perform poorly in meetings because
the vocabularies
are not constrained,
speech is
spontaneous and overlapping,
and microphones may be not be positioned
for optimal
sound quality. To support the development of meeting
room technologies,
NIST is providing
a development and evaluation infrastructure including
new metrics and
evaluation tools,
new input/output
specifications,
and collections
of research data. This work will help advance the
state of the
art
of automatic
transcription
and lead
to advances
in speech
recognition and automated transcription.
NIST
also has a project under way to assess and promote
advances in “rich
transcription,” which
seeks to
make transcriptions more
readable through techniques
such
as breaking text into
sentences
or other units and noting
when different people
start or stop
speaking.
For
more information, visit www.nist.gov/speech/
and click on “Publications.”
Contact:
David
Pallett,
(301)
975-2935,
david.pallett@nist.gov.
Intelligent
Control
of
Mobility
Systems
Autonomous
vehicles could
help the
disabled carry
out many
tasks of
daily living,
such as
traveling to the doctor’s
office or commuting
to and
from work. To develop
intelligent mobile
systems such as
robots and autonomous vehicles,
U.S.
industry needs
architectures and
interface standards
to ensure interoperability,
real-time sensing
and measurement
for control systems,
and metrics for
evaluating performance
of components and
systems. NIST develops
methods
to evaluate the
performance of advanced sensors,
algorithms for
obstacle detection
and avoidance,
autonomous mission/task
planners, and the
ability of
robotic systems
to execute tactical
behaviors effectively
and intelligently.
For
further information,
visit www.mel.nist.gov/proj/icms.htm.
Contact:
Maris Juberts, (301)
975-3424, maris.juberts@nist.gov.
Reference
Test Arenas for
Mobile Robots
NIST
has developed
a testbed
for evaluating
autonomous
mobile
robots that aid
in
urban search
and
rescue.
The course,
which
is open
to the robotics
community
worldwide,
is encouraging
comparisons
among robot
designs,
reuse of “best
of class” algorithms,
and robustness
of robots
overall.
The knowledge
gained
from the
rescue
work could
be applied
to robots
designed
for assistive
purposes.
Robots
designed
to
help physically
challenged
individuals
would
need
control
features
similar
to
those
found
in rescue
robots.
In
a rescue
scenario,
for
instance,
a
robot’s
job is
to locate
human
victims
and
hazards
amid
rubble
and
other
obstacles,
map
the environment,
and
communicate the locations
of victims
and
hazards
within
the
map to human
rescuers.
Robots
designed
to
assist
the
disabled or elderly
could
have
similar
tasks.
The
NIST test
course
already
is set
up for
appropriate
tests.
It contains
a section
that
represents
obstacles
encountered
in a
home
environment.
Here,
robots
are
evaluated
for ability
to negotiate
hallways,
avoid
furniture
and appliances,
and
send off help
signals
if assistance
is needed.
Tests
are
designed
that
isolate
sensing,
behavioral,
and physical
challenges.
For
more
information,
visit
www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/n00-13.htm.
Contact:
Adam
Jacoff,
(301) 975-4235,
adam.jacoff@nist.gov.
Advanced
Technology Program
NIST’s
Advanced Technology Program (ATP) fosters economic growth through
partnerships
with the private sector
that accelerate the development of high-risk, broadly
enabling technologies
and help to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the
marketplace. A number of ATP
projects are focusing on
assistive technologies.
For example, one project is developing robotic training devices
to teach people with neurological
impairments
how to walk.
See additional examples
at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/atpassistivetech.htm.
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