Speak Through Eye Movements Glasses

Almost 15% of the world population experience some form of disability and according to the survey of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics taken in November 2021 around 3.3 million of our population face some sort of disability and most of the peo

Project Title

Speak Through Eye Movements Glasses

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Almost 15% of the world population experience some form of disability and according to the survey of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics taken in November 2021 around 3.3 million of our population face some sort of disability and most of the people who have these types of disabilities belongs to the rural area. Without proper means of communication between them and their surroundings they find it difficult to interact with people around them. No doubt there are other means to fill this gap but they are either ineffective or expensive, such as sign language. It is an effective way to communicate with mute people but most of us don’t understand it. In this project a method based on eye movements is used. This project can help people who are unable to communicate verbally and suffer from severe physical disabilities by providing a wearable device that allows basic communication. This will make a bridge between physically disabled and normal public. By using this device, users can express themselves with customizable phrases using situational and self-defined profiles that allow them to communicate with the people around them.

The person using this product will wear glasses which is equipped with reflectance sensors on one side. The simple eye movements within certain time frames and directions are recorded which will then output audible predefined phrases through a speaker and will allow basic communication. It will have predefined audio files in any language according to the user preference.

Project Objectives

The objective of this project is to make a device which is cost effective and portable that can give mute people a voice in a way so that they can express what they are feeling, understandable by those around them. Mute people find it difficult to communicate with people around them which hinders their participation in daily-life activities. It also effects their chances of getting a job as they cannot communicate (i.e., mute). Therefore, there is a huge need for devices which can help these people communicable. The devices already available are way too expensive that everyone cannot afford it. Hence, the already available devices cannot fulfill the required need of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. Since our proposed solution costs o which is quite affordable price as compared to other products already available in market.Therefore, our project can overcome the gap between disabled people and normal population.

Project Implementation Method

Our project is based on detecting eye movements as inputs and playing a respective audio through a speaker as an output. We are using glasses equipped with four IR sensors which will detect eye movements. When the device is turned on it will automatically enter into calibration mode for around 10 seconds. After that microcontroller will read the data from the sensors and determine the eye movement (i.e, up, down, left, right). Then once again it will read the data from the sensors and determine the eye movement. After detecting two eye movements (i.e, up, up or down, up, etc.) it will play an audio phrase through the speaker. In this way we can have total of 16 audio phrases as output.

Benefits of the Project

The main benefit of this project is to the disabled community who cannot speak, communicate freely with anyone around them. It will also help their family members and other people to understand what they want to say or convey using STEM Glasses.

• Cheap: It is cost effective compared to the other devices currently available in the market.
• Portable: It is a portable device and anyone can take it to anywhere by putting it in their pocket.
• Customizable voices: The voices can be customizable according to the patient's needs and requirements.
• Easy to use: This device is easy to use as you have to just use your eye movements in order to use this device.
• No language barrier: There is no language barrier in this device. Any one can record their own voice in any language they want.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

We are using an IR reflectance sensor to to detect eye movements. It uses a capacitive discharge circuit to measure the amount of reflection. Its range and the values corresponding to amount of darkness are recorded. Four of these sensors are mounted on glasses as shown in Fig 1. When the decive is turned on at first these sensors calibrate for around 10 seconds. After that microcontroller Arduino NANO reads data input from senors and determine eye movement. Upon detection it enters a menu where it detects eye movement again and plays an audio through speaker. This way we can have 16 audio outputs as shown in Fig 2. All audio files are stored in a SD Card using sd card module and mp3 player.

Fig 1: Sensors mounted on glasses

Fig 2: Menu and audio layout

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Medical

Other Industries

Health

Core Technology

Wearables and Implantables

Other Technologies

Clean Tech

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Reduced Inequality

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com