Main description:

This book is based on the papers presented at the Workshop on "Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired" held in Flo rence at the Institute for the Research on Electromagnetic Waves of the Italian Research Council on April 4-6, 1984. The Workshop, sponsored by the Committee for Medical and Public Health Research of the Commission of the European Communities, was meant to exchange ideas about the need, importance and feasibility of a European cooperation in the field of visual impairment and to identify promising research areas, where current national activities could take advantage of such a collaboration in order to increase their efficiency. In particular, it dealt with the develop ment and use of technical aids (mainly based on computers and signal processing techniques) and with the elaboration, evaluation and standardization of new methods and tests. The attendance was multidisciplinary, including researchers from the fields of technology, medicine and psychology and representatives from organizations involved in the rehabi litation of the visually impaired. Five technical sessions were organized, dealing with the following topics: automatic production of Braille and systems for paperless Braille, aids for reading and for the interaction with coded informa tion sources, low vision aids, transduction of visual infor mation into a tactile representation, mobility aids. Three different application sectors were mainly considered: education and culture, vocational training, mobility. A final session was devoted to a discussion in working groups. The results are briefly outlined in the following concise report of the Workshop.

Contents:

Concise Report of the Workshop.- Session 1: Braille Production.- Automatic Production of Braille.- Progress in Automatic Production of Braille.- Automatic Production of Braille - A Danish Experience.- Innovation, Braille Information and Workplace Design.- Necessary Priority Areas in the Development of Technical Aids for the Blind in the Federal Republic of Germany.- Discussion.- The Elekul Braille System.- Written Communication Aids Between Sighted and Non Sighted Persons.- Session 2: Aids for Reading and for the Interaction with Coded Information Sources.- "Ordibraille": A Braille Text Processing System.- Aids for Reading and for the Interaction with Coded Information Sources.- Applications of a Multi-Lingual Text-To-Speech System.- Multifont Textreading Machine for the Blind.- Project for an Optical Character Recognizer for the Blind.- A Low Cost, Portable, Optical Character Reader for Blind.- Communication Aids.- Design and Evaluation of Aids for Interaction with a Computer Based Information Service.- Discussion.- Session 3: Low-Vision (Clinical, Social, Psychological and Technological Aspects).- Organization of the Distribution of Low-Vision Aids.- Reading by the Elderly (Reading by Subjects with Normal and Low Vision).- Assessment of the Needs of Low-Vision Patients.- Low Vision Aids and Some Perceptual Aspects of Reading by the Partially Sighted.- Visual Impairment in Greece: Health Service Organization.- Necessity of an Interface Between Research Output and Social Needs.- Discussion.- Session 4: Transduction of Visual Information and Displays for the Blind.- Transitory Graphical Displays for the Blind.- The Computer as a Graphical Communication Tool for the Blind.- Image Processing Techniques: Some Possible Applications to the Transduction of Visual Information to Other Modalities.- Design of Sensory Substitution Systems for the Blind.- Discussion.- Session 5: Mobility.- Mobility Aids, Proposal for Research and Development.- Ergonomics, Mechanics and Functional Aspects for the Long Cane.- The Role of Evaluation and of Inspiration in the Development of Electronic Travel Aids for the Blind.- Development and Evaluation of Mobility Aids for the Visually Handicapped.- Discussion.- Author Index.