A computer-assisted music-learning system (CAMLS) has been developed to help the hearing impaired practice playing a musical melody. The music-learning performance is evaluated to test the usability of the system. This system can be a computer-supported learning tool for the hearing impaired to help them understand what pitch and tempo are, and then learn to play songs thereby increasing their interest in music classes and enhancing their learning performance. The results indicated that CAMLS could enhance hearing-impaired students' learning performance in a music course. A questionnaire survey also demonstrated that the computer-aided method did benefit hearing-impaired students in their music leaning. Actually, this system can also be applied to non-disabled students as a music-supportive tool to help their music learning.
This article evaluates an eye-tracking device ("I Can Speak With My Eyes") designed for a museum exhibition. An eye-tracking system is designed not only for able individuals, but also for bedridden patients or physically handicapped people who intend to use computers. With one video CCD camera and frame grabber analyzing a series of images taken of the human pupil gazing at a screen, an auto-range-finding algorithm can be used to obtain the location of the pupil in real time. The computers will produce speech according to the location of where the eyes are gazing. In essence, the participants can speak with their eyes to achieve the advantages of learning and communicating. After the system was implemented, an experimental evaluation with innovation diffusion theory was conducted to survey users' feelings regarding the system. The implications of the evaluation findings are discussed to aid further research and education.
In this research, image analysis was used to optimize the visual output of a traditional Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) magnifying system and a head-mounted display (HMD) for people with low vision. There were two purposes: (1) To determine the benefit of using an image analysis system to customize image quality for a person with low vision, and (2) to have people with low vision evaluate a traditional CCTV magnifier and an HMD, each customized to the user's needs and preferences. A CCTV system can electronically alter images by increasing the contrast, brightness, and magnification for the visually disabled when they are reading texts and pictures. The test methods was developed to evaluate and customize a magnification system for persons with low vision. The head-mounted display with CCTV was used to obtain better depth of field and a higher modulation transfer function from the video camera. By sensing the parameters of the environment (e.g., ambient light level, etc.) and collecting the user's specific characteristics, the system could make adjustments according to the user's needs, thus allowing the visually disabled to read more efficiently.
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