Copyright © 2006 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers
Special Section on Human Communication II -- Papers -- Vision and Image |
Development of a Communication Support Device Controlled by Eye Movements and Voluntary Eye Blink
1 The authors are with the Dept. of Biocybernetics, Niigata University, Niigata-shi, 950–2181 Japan. E-mail: hori{at}bc.niigata-u.ac.jp, 2 The author is with the Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Niigata University, Niigata-shi, 950–2181 Japan., 3 The author is with the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata-shi, 950–2181 Japan.
A communication support interface controlled by eye movements and voluntary eye blink has been developed for disabled individuals with motor paralysis who cannot speak. Horizontal and vertical electro-oculograms were measured using two surface electrodes attached above and beside the dominant eye and referring to an earlobe electrode and amplified with AC-coupling in order to reduce the unnecessary drift. Four directional cursor movements —up, down, right, and left— and one selected operation were realized by logically combining the two detected channel signals based on threshold settings specific to the individual. Letter input experiments were conducted on a virtual screen keyboard. The method's usability was enhanced by minimizing the number of electrodes and applying training to both the subject and the device. As a result, an accuracy of 90.1 ± 3.6% and a processing speed of 7.7 ± 1.9 letters/min. were obtained using our method.
Key Words: assistive technology, communication device, electro-oculogram, eye movement, voluntary eye blink
Manuscript received September 18, 2005. Manuscript revised January 4, 2006.