Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

The commercial market for computer games and other multimedia products is extremely large and young people have a considerable experience of such games. Disabled users have very limited access to this important part of the youth culture. Indeed there are few entertaining computer games which are accessible for them. Research and development in the field of IT and the disabled has focused on education rather than leisure.

Though accessible gaming is a well-established phenomenon, few mainstream applications of it exist. We present some of the work of the AGRIP project – an effort to develop techniques to render modern first-person shooter games accessible to the blind and vision-impaired. We discuss some of the low-level accessibility infrastructure employed in the game AudioQuake and compare it to other contemporary research. The project’s ultimate goals of generalisation and use of the technology in educational settings are also introduced.

The described work focuses on the analysis how users interact with specific human machine interfaces and how shape and tactile properties influence this interaction. Results gained by such investigations should help to obtain better knowledge of human computer interaction in general and about possible influences of diseases.

Based on this knowledge it should be possible to fit and optimize human machine interfaces in a way that is not only dependent on the professionist performing this task. Also for the development of new device this knowledge and reliable data is essential.

SSR is a biomedical signal, that reflects the activity of the sym-pathetic nervous system, and can be affected by cognitive thinking an decision making. We hypothesized that the SSR response could be used as a switch for an input support device for the ALS patients. In this paper, we investigated whether or not the SSR response could be used as a switch for an input support device for the ALS patients.

To press a computer key by an unskilled finger is sometimes an adaptive way to successfully access computer for the persons with quadriplegia. The efficiency of the unskilled site during the learning process should be addressed. Currently, we also want to know how the brain works in this unskilled situation during the learning process. Therefore, this combined motor behavioral and brain electrophysiological study was conducted. Since it was not easy to invite the persons with quadriplegia to participate electrophysiological studies, we invited eight typical college students to participate our study. Each of them tried to press the left, middle, and right keys for 200 times by their 2, 3 and 4 fingers respectively in a randomized order. The event-related coherence of the EEG was calculated to find out the functional connection among brain areas under unskilled (4th) and skilled (2nd) conditions. The result suggested that the alpha band synchronization between C3 and C4 electrodes under the unskilled condition was weaker than that under the skilled condition. It is likely that the performance of an unskilled finger was correlated to the weaker brain coherence. The brain might need some time to establish connections among different regions in the cortex during the learning process especially when using the unskilled control site.

This study presents a computerized assessment approach for evaluating a subject’s pointing and selecting proficiency using computer input tools, to aid access tool selection for users with severe disabilities. The CAT system consists of three subsystems. The CAT system not only provides clinicians with an objective means of evaluating clients’ specific mouse operating difficulties, but also allows them to compare the performance improvement made by a client make during the device selection and training period. The client’s performance in each assessment task is assessed on the basis of speed, accuracy and efficiency. Besides introducing the CAT system, this study also describes an example of adopting the CAT system to assist a client to select a suitable pointing device.

Assistive Homes and Environments are a category of Smart Homes and Environments and are an approach to independent living. All important devices are linked together and allow their integrated control by an accessible user interface. These environments have the ability to compensate some of the occupant’s disabilities and therefore enhance the occupant’s independence. This special thematic session deals with Assistive Homes and Environments and related developments and research. The topics reach from “Smart and Assistive Homes” over “Control of ICT devices by eye gaze” to “Health monitoring systems for elderly and disabled people”.

It has been shown that the elderly, disabled, and those suffering from chronic illness benefit from early detection of symptoms and being involved with the management of their own conditions. We propose a home-based monitoring system which will continuously and unobtrusively (depending on a patient’s condition and the sensors used) monitor a patient’s condition. The monitoring system is supplemented by a monitoring/data warehousing service which is the first line of response in the event of an emergency. This system will be implemented using Zigbee technology.

This paper presents a computer method to help people, typically having limited mobility, to be able to operate ICT devices with eye gaze in their living/work environment. The user’s eye gaze is recorded and analyzed in real-time. Any ICT device in the environment that is being looked at for a certain time period is identified, located and assumed to be the object of interest that the user wants to utilise. Through a suitable interface, the user can then decide whether to operate the device. By using this state-of-the-art technology, people with impaired mobility, or able bodied people whose movements are restricted can attain a more independent life style.

The DAT project is a research initiative that aims at building up a smart home environment where people with disabilities can improve their abilities to cope with daily life activities by means of technologically advanced home automation solutions. The project has a threefold purpose. The smart home will be used as a physical setting, where clients with disabilities can follow individual programs aimed at improving their independence in the home environment. The smart house will also be used as a demonstration an educational laboratory where anybody interested can get knowledge of the latest advancements in the field of home automation and tele-care. Finally, the smart home will be used as research laboratory for testing and developing new clinical protocols and innovative solutions in the field of environmental control and home care. This article describes the architecture of the smart home, the design of the home automation system, and the research programs associated with the DAT project.