Electronic and Computer-Assisted Refreshable Braille Display Developed for Visually Impaired Individuals

Braille alphabet is an important tool that enables
visually impaired individuals to have a comfortable life like those
who have normal vision. For this reason, new applications related to
the Braille alphabet are being developed. In this study, a new
Refreshable Braille Display was developed to help visually impaired
individuals learn the Braille alphabet easier. By means of this system,
any text downloaded on a computer can be read by the visually
impaired individual at that moment by feeling it by his/her hands.
Through this electronic device, it was aimed to make learning the
Braille alphabet easier for visually impaired individuals with whom
the necessary tests were conducted.

• Ayşe Eldem
• Fatih Başçiftçi

• Visually Impaired Individual
• Braille
• Braille Display
• Refreshable Braille Display
• USB.

[1] Eldem A. and Basçiftçi F., The Electronic and Computer-Aided Periodic
Table Prepared for the Visually Impaired Individuals, World Academy
of Science, Engineering and Technology 80, 2013, 1051-1053.
[2] Yin J.,Wang L. And Li J., TheResearch on Paper-mediated Braille
AutomaticRecognitionMethod, 2010 Fifth International Conference on
Frontier of Computer Science and Technology (IEEE).
[3] Jiménez J., Olea J., Torres J., Alonso I., Harder D. and Fischer K.,
Biography of Louis Braille and Invention of the Braille Alphabet,
Survey Of Ophthalmology, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2009, 142-149.
[4] Yobas L., Durand D. M., Skebe G. G., Lisy F. J. and Huff M. A., A
Novel Integrable Microvalve for Refreshable Braille Display System,
Journal Of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 12, No. 3, June 2003,
252-263.
[5] Chakrabortia P., Karahan Toprakcia H.A.,c, Yangb P., Di Spignab N.,
Franzonb P. and Ghosha T., A compact dielectric elastomer tubular
actuator for refreshable Braille displays, Sensors and Actuators A, 179,
2012, 151– 157.
[6] Cho H., Kim B., Park J. and Song J., Development of a Braille Display
using Piezoelectric Linear Motors, SICE-ICASE International Joint
Conference 2006, 1917-1921, Korea.
[7] Çentik G., Design and Application of a New Computer-Assisted
Training Set for Teaching the Braille Alphabet to Visually Impaired
Individuals, Master Thesis, Trakya Üniversitesi, 2009.
[8] Runyan N. H., Carpi F., Editorial, Seeking the 'holy Braille' display:
might electromechanically active polymers be the solution, Expert
Review of Medical Devices, Vol. 8(5), 2011, 529-532.
[9] Yeh F. and Liang S., Mechanism design of the flapper actuator in
Chinese Braille display, Sensors and Actuators A, 135, 2007, 680–689.
[10] Yarimaga O., Lee J, Lee B., Ryu J., Tactile Sensation Display with
Electrotactile Interface, ICCAS2005, June 2-5, KINTEX, Gyeonggi-Do,
Korea.
[11] Lee S. J. and Lucyszyn S., A Micromachined Refreshable Braille Cell,
Journal Of Microelectromechanical Systems, 14, 4, August 2005.
[12] Wu X., Zhu H., Kim S. and Allen M.G., A Portable Pneumatically-
Actuated Refreshable Braille Cell, The 14th International Conference on
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems,June 10-14, 2007,
1409-1412, France.
[13] Torras N., Zinoviev K.E., Camargo C.J., Campo E.M., Campanella H.,
Esteve J., Marshal J.E., Terentjev E. M., Omastova M.,Krupa I.,
Teplický P., Mamojka B., Burns P., Röder B., Vallribera M., Malet R.,
Zuffanelli S., Soler V., Roig6 J., Walker N., Wenn D., Vossen F.,
Crompvoets F.M.H., Nematic Opto-Mechanical Actuators For The
Fabrication Of Refreshable Tactile Systems, Transducers 2013, 1691-
1694, Barcelona, SPAIN.
[14] http://web.metec-ag.de/P20.pdf, Access Date: 23.08.2014.
[15] https://www.americanpiezo.com/piezo-theory/actuators.html, Access
Date: 23.08.2014.
[16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#cite_note-2, Access Date: 01.12.2014.
[17] http://etc.usf.edu/techease/win/hardware/what-is-usb/, Access Date:
01.12.2014.