Some of the skilled people have dedicated their life to the betterment of our lesser privileged fellows. In this digital era, where every sector of life is receiving a fair amount of advancement with the assistance of technology, accessibility facilities for visually challenged people too are getting a boost.
“Blind people are just like seeing people in the dark. The loss of sight does not impair the qualities of mind and heart.”
The constant development in the field and the extensive new researches may bring one day on our planet, when no one will be suffering from this unfortunate situation. Some of the advanced inventions that may change the present condition of visually impaired people are-
Smile detector
Though many smartphones are already offering the smile capture technique as an advanced camera feature, it is the initiative by Listerine that has introduced this feature for the benefit of visually challenged people. The company has even developed a short film featuring a few blind people ‘feeling’ the smiles of their loved ones. The video seems to fulfill the objective of making the app appear more than just a brand publicizing.
The app, though not of any materialistic use, provides a solution to the emotional issues faced by a blind person. It may also help such people to be more interactive with their acquaintances. It is observed, many a time a visually impaired person tends to have bleak thoughts just because they were unable to see the expressions of a person they are talking to. For such cases, the app may prove to bring happiness to such people by cheering them on a fundamental level.
Visual Prosthesis
Though the idea of Visual Prosthesis (aka Bionic Eye) dates back to the 18th century, most people, especially from underdeveloped nations, do not know about it yet. Since the evolution of the idea, many biotechnological projects on the idea are getting developed. A few devices have already been designed and are in the experimentation phase. The most recent successful trial of one such device was conducted on a woman of 49 years of age. Rhian Lewis, a Briton, had lost her sight completely almost 16 years ago. The operation was carried out by the specialists of John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The doctors had implanted a minuscule chip; that converts the light into electrical signals and then sends the same to the brain through optical nerve. Such chips can be used to treat the blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa.
Since, the loss of sight depends on multiple factors, designing a standard device that can cure all type of vision problems, doesn’t sound plausible; i.e. why scientists are deliberating on focused research. Many projects like Bionic Vision Australia, Artificial Silicon Retina, Dobelle eye, etc. are under development, and when completed, may serve various noble causes like assisting visually challenged students in pursuing their academic endeavours. These can be a great assignment help to such students who want to complete their studies like normal people..
Braille Smartwatch
Last year, an invention with the name ‘Dot’ had caused a loud buzz in the startup market. ‘Dot’ has the typical smartwatch features like navigation, messaging, e-books, etc. It is the world’s first braille watch ever developed. The smart device may hit the market in the later part of the year. It is designed to be connected via Bluetooth 4.1 to a mobile phone. The software installed in the watch converts any type of text into braille and then displays it on the surface.
The smartwatch works on the principle of refreshable braille display. The surface of the device has four segments, each consisting of six active dots. The dots rise and fall, at customizable speed, to exhibit four different characters at a time. Other than Bluetooth the watch includes a gyroscope, touch sensor, and accelerometer. The watch can be proved a lifeline to the people who are visually impaired.
Haptic Shoes
With so many haptic feedback devices filling up the market, haptic shoes seems to be the most efficient one, as far as the accessibility for visually impaired people is concerned. ‘Le-chal’ (Hindi for lead me) is the first ever designed prototype of the device. It is much alike any other wearable navigation device. Though the device was originally created to aid blind people, many people who desire to use a navigational system without having to look at their devices time -and- again too are making use of the apparatus.
With a long battery life of three days, it can be used as the best trekking ally. The shoes also embeds a fitness tracking system, making the device more usable. Furthermore, the company has also introduced polyurethane insoles with the same techniques. These soles can be easily put inside any shoes to be used thence.
Enchroma Glasses
The invention was made for color-blind people. Like the Listerine’s smile app, the device is not of any materialistic use, but provides an effective way of perceiving the world with a new outlook. Again like the app, a short film featuring the reactions of color-blind people using the glasses for the first time was displayed.
It is understandable that the real delight of vision can only be achieved with genuine colors, a delight that was unknown to many color-blind people. The people with deuteranomaly were always apprehensive about the fact that the world they’re seeing is just a pale reflection of the same, but with this device, many such people are enjoying the bliss of truly colorful life.
SmartSpecs
Only 10 percent of legally blind people have that dark outlook of the world; we normally associate with any blind person. Most of the visually impaired people have some degree of residual sight. The device is said to enhance the eyesight of such visually challenged people. The device uses the technology of 3D cameras to capture the real-time images. The developed images are black and white in color and have much-enhanced contrast. Moreover, these devices are designed to show various displays, depending on the needs of the user. Though the glasses, when tested, were found useful only to the one-third of the people, it has definitely opened a new area of development in the field.
These are just a few examples of the inventions, that has the capability of changing the life of almost 285 million people (visually impaired people according to WHO). More inventions are on the way to make their life easier.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1UYlkmB via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1QRXYKb
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