Astronaut Study Gives Voice to People with Disabilities
From: ECN Magazine - 04/03/2017

When his father was diagnosed with a debilitating disease four years ago, it
sparked Ivo Vieira into developing a novel means of communication for people
coping with extreme limitations, building on technology originally explored
to help ESA astronauts in space.

ALS and other forms of motor neurone disease gradually rob sufferers of their
muscular function, including the ability to communicate verbally. However,
eye movement presents an opportunity because it usually remains unimpaired.

This ESA effort led LusoSpace to produce its first pair of augmented reality
glasses in 2008 and then to set up the LusoVu company to develop them for the
disabled.

EyeSpeak glasses detect the movement of the eyes across a virtual keyboard
displayed on the inside of its lenses. Words and phrases spelled out by the
wearer are translated by the built-in software and spoken by speakers in one
arm.

The glasses can also let the user navigate the Internet, watch videos and
access emails privately, as only the user sees what is being projected inside
the lens. However, as the digital information is overlaid on the lens, users
can still see what is going on around them.

The current EyeSpeak 1, which went on sale in March 2016, is based on a pair
of Epson BT-200 AR glasses with an add-on unit of a microphone, speakers and
a tiny camera controlled by a microprocessor unit. It comes either with a
standard synthesised voice or the owner's voice based on previously made
recordings.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2017/04/astronaut-study-gives-voice-people-disabilities

Link:
EyeSpeak
http://www.myeyespeak.com

EyeSpeak: Beyond Communication
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/886924859/eyespeak-beyond-communication

EyeSpeak: Beyond Communication (video 5:03)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s_WLTLEV10

LusoSpace
http://www.lusospace.com