• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.522-525
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose a walking aid system that guides route to visually impaired people in order to recognize uncertain obstacles based on tactile stimulation. The proposed system is composed of the touch-based obstacle detection module, the obstacle height detection module, and the route guidance algorithms. The touch-based obstacle detection module detects each obstacle, which is located at left, right, and front of a visually impaired person by stimulating his thumb with the rotational force of the servomotor. The obstacle height detection module integrates detected data by the linear arrangement of ultrasonic sensors to identify the height of an obstacle about 3 of-phase(i.e., high, medium, low). The proposed route guidance algorithm guides an optimized path to the visually impaired person by updating his current position information based on the signal of the built-in GPS receiver in smartphone. In addition, the route guidance algorithm delivers information with speech to a visually impaired person through Bluetooth commuination in the developed route guidance app. The proposed system can create a path to avoid the obstacles by recognizing the placed situation of the obstacles with exploring the uncertain path.

• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.20-28
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• 2020

In this paper, a voice, object, and optical character recognition platform including voice recognition-based smart wearable devices, smart devices, and web AI servers was proposed as an appropriate technology to help the visually impaired to live independently by learning the life cycle of the visually impaired in advance. The wearable device for the visually impaired was designed and manufactured with a reverse neckband structure to increase the convenience of wearing and the efficiency of object recognition. And the high-sensitivity small microphone and speaker attached to the wearable device was configured to support the voice recognition interface function consisting of the app of the smart device linked to the wearable device. From experimental results, the voice, object, and optical character recognition service used open source and Google APIs in the web AI server, and it was confirmed that the accuracy of voice, object and optical character recognition of the service platform achieved an average of 90% or more.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1001-1010
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• 2021

Normal people are not deeply aware of their dependence on sight when eating. However, since the visually impaired do not know what kind of food is on the table, the assistant next to them holds the blind spoon and explains the position of the food in a clockwise direction, front and rear, left and right, etc. In this paper, we describe the development of a meal assistance system that recognizes each food image and announces the name of the food by voice when a visually impaired person looks at their table using a smartphone camera. This system extracts the food on which the spoon is placed through the YOLO model that has learned the image of food and tableware (spoon), recognizes what the food is, and notifies it by voice. Through this system, it is expected that the visually impaired will be able to eat without the help of a meal assistant, thereby increasing their self-reliance and satisfaction.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.873-882
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• 2022

In this paper, we studied the voice recognition system kiosk for convenience, thinking that the kiosk widely used in modern society should compensate for the inconvenience of using by the visually impaired. Using ultrasonic sensor and PIR(Passive Infrared), it recognizes the visually impaired within the range of 80cm-40cm, introduces the kiosk through the MP3 module and induces them to come closer. Also, when the visually impaired within 40cm is recognized, the product description and order are guided through the MP3 module. A recording-based data voice recognition system and a kiosk that outputs desired items through servo motors were studied. A kiosk for the convenience of the visually impaired was manufactured through operation and optimization experiments of PIR, ultrasonic, voice recognition, and shock sensor for the manufactured voice recognition kiosk. Finally, it was confirmed that security can be strengthened by using shock sensors and emergency bells to enhance security.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.452-458
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose the method for automatically transfers images into tactile maps information based on cognition characteristics of visually impaired persons to more easily provide various image information for visually impaired persons. The proposed method automatically classify color images into row complexity and high complexity based on intensity information and transfer images into tactile map information using each different transformation process. Experimental evaluation, We performed with visually impaired five persons experiments for evaluating the recognition and satisfaction that tactile maps of the proposed automatic transforming method and the manually generated tactile maps of braille textbooks. Experimental results, the recognition and satisfaction that the tactile maps of the proposed method generated are very similar to those of the tactile maps of braille textbooks. Therefore, it could hugely be reduced the time and money of production education materials, and it could greatly improved educative results because it can add more easily that many image data of education materials.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.161-189
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of visually impaired academic researchers' use of scholarly contents and to explore intrinsic nature of the experience. In-depth interview was conducted with a total number of twelve visually impaired academic researchers and the data were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological research method. A total of 107 significant statements were extracted, divided into 44 themes and 12 theme clusters. The statements were then classified into four categories. The 'scholarly contents acquisition and use' category has to do with difficulties that these experience when negotiating with internet sites with poor web accessibility and full-text availability. The 'changes in perception and emotions' category deals with transitions in perception and mood experienced by visually impaired academic researchers' over time. The 'relationships with support personnel' category includes issues related with the difficulty of securing support person, support person's inadequate level of competence, and establishing/sustaining personal relationships. Finally, the 'improvement requirements' category includes issues that these researchers want resolved with regard to contents acquisition and use.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.265-276
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of creating barrier-free exhibition-appreciation environment based on the visually impaired person's perspectives. Participants were selected by the purposeful sampling method. Researchers conducted a couple of in-depth interviews with four visually impaired persons. Yin's case study method was employed to analyze qualitative information. The analysis revealed nine sub-themes in two sections: three from 'accessibility within the exhibition room'; and six from 'demand for immersive exhibition environment.' Based on the results, following suggestions were presented: First, we need to provide quality information appropriate for artworks-appreciation; secondly, to ensure the visually impaired people to appreciate the culture and arts without any barrier, we need to extend certification of barrier-free living environment to exhibition-appreciation area. Finally, to facilitate these two tasks we need to encourage the convergence research among science and technology, humanities and society, and culture and arts.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1329-1338
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• 2021

There are rarely effective methods to help visually impaired people when they want to know the expiration date of products excepted to only Braille. In this study, we developed an expiration date notification system based on YOLO and OCR for visually impaired people. The handicapped people can automatically know the expiration date of a specific product by using our system without the help of a caregiver, fast and accurately. The proposed system is worked by four different steps: (1) identification of a target product by scanning its barcode; (2) segmentation of an image area with the expiration date using YOLO; (3) classification of the expiration date by OCR: (4) notification of the expiration date by TTS. Our system showed an average classification accuracy of about 86.00% when blindfolded subjects used the proposed system in real-time. This result validates that the proposed system can be potentially used for visually impaired people.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.335-354
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• 2009

In the knowledge and information society, there is an increasing importance of information, being unable to access this information becomes a huge disadvantage. Blind and visually impaired users who are using assistant equipment such as screen readers are the very class that is having trouble accessing the web content that public libraries provide. In this research 10% of each region's libraries were picked as a research sample. Most of the web content that the public libraries provided did not meet the Internet web content accessibility guidelines as a Korean standard. Also evaluation into web accessibility by the visually impaired was also low. This research suggests some solutions for libraries to reduce the disadvantages that are put upon visually impaired people from various views such as perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.25-51
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyze the key factors affecting satisfaction of the visually impaired SNS users so that they may use SNS more effectively in the future. This study has used three factors such as the information factor, the relationship factor and the speed factor and the usability as independent variables. The social presence factor was used as a parameter and the SNS user satisfaction as a dependent variable. For the research, 195 visually impaired SNS users have participated in this survey. The major findings of this study are that the relationship factor has strong effects on the self-identification factor, the social presence factor and the SNS usage satisfaction among the factors affecting the visually impaired users to be satisfied with SNS. On the other hand, the information factor and usage factor have no effects on the self-identification factor and the social presence factor. However, they have effects on the SNS usage satisfaction. Additionally, the self-identification factor has no effect on the SNS usage satisfaction, but the social presence factor has effect. Based on the above study results, this paper proposed for the government to enhance the educational program on the use of SNS for the visually impaired and to increase its financial and political support on this subject. Additionally, technical supports on SNS service accessibility and usage by the government are vital for the visually impaired. Academically, this study provides a concrete groundwork for the research on the use of SNS by the visually impaired by providing a solid research direction for further study on this subject. Socially, this study helps the visually impaired use SNS more effectively by increasing the general public awareness of the importance of SNS usages by the visually impaired so that the information gap of the society may be diminished in the future.