ClearEye - Auditory Travel Aid System For The Blind Providing Indoor/Outdoor Traveling Information Using Signal Transformation

ClearEye - Auditory Travel Aid System For The Blind Providing Indoor/Outdoor Traveling Information Using Signal Transformation

  We designed a portable auditory guidance system for the blind named ClearEye, providing indoor/outdoor traveling information. The outdoor guidance function provides global position information using synthesized speech, which guides specific positions based on GPS (Global Positioning System). The indoor guidance function provides local information such as distances and directions of obstacles as well as information for wall-following, which is acquired using multiple ultrasonic sensors, and is conveyed to the blind with a binaural auditory signal. We discuss design considerations of a rehabilitation system such as availability, afford ability, and acceptability. We reflect them to design our system, which is designed as a cost-effective, battery operated portable system. A new ultrasonic detection scheme using echo signal integration, and an efficient speech synthesis method are proposed.