• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1102-1113
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• 2018

Vibrotactile feedback is widely used in designing non-visual interactions on mobile phones, such as message notification, non-visual reading, and blind use. In this work, novel vibrotactile codes are presented to implement a non-visual text reading system for mobile phones. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are formed in an index table with four rows and seven columns, and each letter is mapped using the codes of vibrations. Two kinds of vibrotactile codes are designed with the actuator's on and off states and with specific lengths (short and long) assigned to each state. To improve the efficiency of tactile perception and user satisfaction, three user experiments are conducted. The first experiment explores the maximum number of continuous vibrations and minimum vibration time of the actuator's on and off states that the human can perceive. The second experiment determines the minimum interval between continuous vibrations. The vibrotactile reading system is designed and evaluated in the third experiment according to the results of the two preceding experiments. Results show that the character reading accuracy reaches 91.7% and the character reading speed is approximately 617.8 ms. Our method has better reading efficiency and is easier to learn than the traditional Braille coding method.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 1991

In this paper, we have developed page level input system of the character reading aid for the blind. Input toys)ems arse consisted with 512 pixels line image sensor, optical lento, digital interface for the computer and its control software. Input buffer size of the computer memory that for the single scanning of printed matters Image is 64kB. Image patterns of the reading characters which stored in system memory are converted to tactile character patterns that would be output to the bimorph tactile sensor by software control.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2010

Research and development of Assistive Technology (AT) for blind people is primarily focused on assisting mobility and improving access to information. Some particularly useful devices for aiding access to information and communication are DAISY players used with talking books, screen readers for reading screens, video magnifiers to aid low vision, Braille displays, and Braille PDAs. These essential devices have been successfully commercialized and have assisted many visually impaired people. Assistive technology devices for visually impaired people are called sensory substitution devices, because these devices substitute tactile or auditory functions for visual functions. The tactile interfaces of sensory substitution devices such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs have a bimorph type of piezoelectric actuator that forms a Braille (pin) of the Braille cells by moving up and down. KGS Corporation of Japan has more than 80% share of the worldwide market for these Braille cell actuators. Commercializing it for the first time in the world. This paper reviews the various endeavors in Japan in the research and development of tactile displays, such as Braille displays and Braille PDAs. Furthermore, it discusses sensory substitution devices that use tactile displays, focusing especially on the rotating Braille display we have developed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.286-295
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• 2011

This case study was to examine the effect of the sensory integration therapy on the Goldenhar syndrome child with tactile defensiveness, developmental delay and occupational performance difficulties. The child was 7.10 year old boy. For intervention, four evaluations were used and the results are as follows. First, in Canadian Occupational Performance Measure showed occupational performance goal as reading and writing in upright position. Second, in Short sensory profile and sensory history, significant differences between sensory sensitivity and tactile processing. Third, in Developmental Profile-3 showed delay. Fourth, in Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 showed below average. After intervention, the results of which showed a positive changes. Therefore, this case study is found that the sensory integration therapy is effective in the Goldenhar syndrome child with tactile defensiveness and developmental delay.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.203-216
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• 1992

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of the Luria-Nebraska Battery-Children's Revision (LNNB-CR) in the clinical situation in Korea: LNNB-CR was applied clinically in order to examine how well it differentiates brain damaged children from normals. Subjects were 30 children with the average age of 10 years. Among them 15 were diagnosed as the 'brain damaged' group, and the remaining 15 were normal. All subjects of the two groups were tested on all items in accordance with LNNB-CR manual. Data were analyzed by percentage, correlation coefficient, and t-test. The results were (1) the degree of consistency between testers averaged 97.2％ which confirmed the stability of the scoring system. (2) Split-half reliability was ranged from .75 on the Tactile Scale (C3) to .95 on the Memory Scale (C10). Thus, consistency of items within the scales appeared high. (3) Internal consistency reliability ranged from .74 on the Visual Scale (C4) to .98 on the Reading Scale (C9). Thus, the homogenity of items within the scales appeared high. (4) In the diagnostic discriminative power test between the two groups, both individual scales and total scores showed significant differences at the level of p<.001. (5) The discriminative power test between two groups on all items showed significant differences at the level of p<.05 or better in 126(85％) out of 149 items. These results are supportive of the diagnostic utility of the application of LNNB-CR to the clinical situation in Korea. However, extensive additional research is needed in order to prove its worth.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.49-56
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• 2012

The camera-based mobile applications such as color, pattern and object reading can improve the living quality of blind people. However currently available camera-based applications are uncomfortable for the blind, since these applications do not reflect accessibility requirements of the blind especially on touch screen. We investigated accessibility requirements about rapidly growing camera-based mobile applications on touch screen devices for the blind. In order to identify accessibility requirements, we conducted a usability testing for color reading applications with three different types of interfaces on Android OS. The results of the usability testing were as follows: (1) users preferred short depth of menu hierarchy, (2) the initial audio help was more useful than just-in-time help, (3) users needed both manual and automatic camera shooting modes although they preferred manual to automatic mode, (4) users wanted the OS supported screen reader function to be turned off during the color reading application was running, and (5) users required tactile feedback to identify touch screen boundary. We designed a new user interface for blind people by applying the identified accessibility requirements. From a usability testing of the new user interface with 10 blind people, we showed that the identified accessibility requirements were very useful accessibility guidelines for camera-based mobile applications.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.46
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• pp.85-106
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• 2017

With the media's shift into the digital era in the 2000s, comic book publishers attempted a transition into the new medium by establishing a distribution structure using internet networks. But that effort shied from escaping the parallel-page reading structure of traditional comics. On the other hand, webtoons are showing divers changes by redesigning the structure of traditional sequential art media; they tend to separate and allot spaces according to the vertical scroll reading method of the internet browser and include animations, sound effects and background music. This trend is also in accordance with the preferences of modern readers. Modern society has complicated social structures with the development of various media; the public is therefore exposed to different stimuli and shows characteristics of differentiated perceptions. In other words, webtoons display more relevant and entertaining characteristics by inserting sounds and using moving texts and characters in specific frames, while traditional comics require an appreciation of withdrawal and immersion like other published media. Motions in webtoons are partially applied for dramatic tension or to create an effective expression of action. For example, hand-drawn animation is adopted to express motions by dividing motion images into many layers. Sounds are also utilized, such as background music with episode-related lyrics, melodies, ambient sounds and motion-related sound effects. In addition, webtoons provide readers with new amusement by giving tactile stimuli via the vibration of a smart phone. As stated above, the vertical direction, time-based nature of animation motions and tactile stimuli used in webtoons are differentiated from published comics. However, webtoons' utilization of innovative techniques hasn't yet reached its full potential. In addition to the fact that the software used for webtoon effects is operationally complex, this is a transitional phenomenon since there is still a lack of technical understanding of animation and sound application amongst the general public. For example, a sound might be programmed to play when a specific frame scrolls into view on the monitor, but the frame may be scrolled faster or slower than the author intended; in this case, sound can end before or after a reader sees the whole image. The motion of each frame is also programmed to start in a similar fashion. Therefore, a reader's scroll speed is related to the motion's speed. For this reason, motions might miss the intended timing and be unnatural because they are played out of context. Also, finished sound effects can disturb the concentration of readers. These problems come from a shortage of continuity; to solve these, naturally activated consecutive sounds or animations, like the simple rotation of joints when a character moves, is required.