[accessibleimage] Re: tactile and auditory representations of neuroimaging data

Hi Simon.   These brain scan images are presumably MRI images, and you are
correct that the raw data is a collection of measured parameters collected
at a grid of points in a 3 dimensional space - in this case the subject's
brain.  MRI can, at least in principle, measure a large number of the
properties of protons in the brain, and I am not familiar enough with modern
MRI to know how many parameters are typically measured.  At a minimum, MRI
should be able to provide a map of proton density and one or more proton
relaxation rates.  The purpose of the 2d sectional images is to provide
these data in one picture that a trained observer can correlate to various
properties.  For example, tumors commonly have much larger relaxation rates
than normal tissue, and it would be good to plot relaxation rate as some
color function so that places with abnormally fast relaxation would stand
out clearly.  And as you also point out, this presentation may not be the
most useful way to present that information to a blind person.  Assuming one
has access to the raw data, one could make plots using tactile/haptic/audio
parameters that do the same thing for the blind user.

If only one parameter is measured, it would be fairly easy to present the
data using a number of techniques discussed on this list recently - egg
VOICe or height-resolved intensity tactile copy made on a Tiger embosser.
Life becomes extraordinarily more complex if one needs to present
simultaneous parameters - egg both proton density and relaxation rate.
Visually this is often done by presenting data with color hue representing
one variable and intensity representing the other.  There has been quite a
bit of research on using audio for similar purpose, and all I know about
this field is that it is surprisingly difficult to represent a small number
(egg 2 or 3) parameters in an intuitive audio fashion.  So my guess is that
the best approach for today is to accept those visual images and find a
reasonably intuitive map of those color/intensity parameters to audio.
That's what we are trying to do at ViewPlus, and it is still very much a
research project.

John


-----Original Message-----
From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Simon Ungar
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 3:18 AM
To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: tactile and auditory representations of
neuroimaging data

Hi All,

In an earlier conversation with Nayab (off-list) I was intrigued by the fact
that the neuroimaging software can output the digital data on which the
coloured topographical brain images are based. This seems to be in the form
of an x-y coordinate table, basically listing what value is located at each
point in a 2D "brain slice". Essentially this could be thought of as a pixel
map of a slice of brain. It's also logically similar to the kind of
geographical data stored in a GIS, like the one that Josh Miele is drawing
on for his automatically generated road maps
(http://www.ski.org/Rehab/TMAP/about.html). In Nayab's case, however, what
would be needed is a representation of regions/areas, possibly represented
by different tactile textures or by some form of tactile greyscale, rather
than representation of lines and points as in Josh's solution.

The question occurs, then, whether it might be possible to use the
coordinate data to generate a tactile image more directly, rather than
trying to process a colour image file (jpeg or whatever it might be) into
tactile form. I would assume that the digital coordinate data provides a
potentially much more flexible basis for the generation of tactile images,
including the possibility of labelling the regions in some way (i.e. by
registering the coordinate information against some map of brain anatomy).

I would be interested in this as a more general issue, because I think we'd
all agree that we need to work towards flexible ways of converting digital
spatial information into tactile formats. For instance, a solution to
Nayab's problem would also be handy for blind students and practitioners in
geography, who need to be able to render digital spatial information in
tactile form.

All the best,

Simon


On 28/6/07 16:43, "N.Begum" <begumn1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi John,
> 
> Thank you for your email.
> We¹re currently trying to get samples of brain images to tiger 
> embosser manufacturers to assess how much detail I can get from them, 
> but this technology looks really promising.  With regard to the IVEO 
> technology, we¹re not really sure how useful this might be, as I¹m 
> trying to find ways to access neuroimaging as independently as 
> possible, and my understanding of the IVEO touchpad is that I¹d 
> require sighted assistance to assign labels and descriptions to an 
> image.  The VOICE software also sounds very interesting, and we¹ll 
> definitely try this too, but I was just wondering how easy it might be 
> to build up a mental image spatially.  With a line graph for example, is
it possible to quantify or work out the scale, e.g.
> from the no. of seconds the tone sounds for.   We¹ve also come across the
> Audiographing calculator-do you think this might be more useful to us?
> Also, do you happen to know how far research has managed to get in 
> terms of producing tactile diagrams in real-time?
> 
> Many thanks
> 
> Nayab
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Hello Nayab.   The IVEO technology developed by ViewPlus and used with a
>> Tiger embosser has much of the functionality that you need.  Ability 
>> to identify color and other image attributes is the subject of an 
>> IVEO expansion research and development project that is now underway, 
>> and it is working beautifully in our research applications.  The 
>> commercial version is some way from introduction, but I'd be happy to 
>> work with you basically as a participant in this development.  I 
>> suggest you read over the info on IVEO on the ViewPlus web site, and 
>> in particular read some of the research articles linked from 
>> http://www.viewplus.com/abstracts/ to learn what IVEO is and can do 
>> for you now.  Then please write me, and we can discuss the current 
>> research project and how it might help solve your problems.
>> 
>> Peter Meijer has also written about the innovative VOICe technology 
>> that he has developed.  I'd be interested to know whether VOICe could 
>> be used in combination with IVEO for things like neuro-imaging.  My 
>> guess is that IVEO and VOICe would complement each other beautifully.  
>> And I'll bet that Peter would be happy to help out.  Maybe he'd like 
>> to comment.
>> 
>> John Gardner
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of N.Begum
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:46 AM
>> To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Cc: barnesgr@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [accessibleimage] tactile and auditory representations of 
>> neuroimaging data
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> My name is Nayab Begum, I'm a psychology student at Aston university 
>> and registered blind.
>> I am hoping to pursue a career in neuroimaging, and currently trying 
>> to find ways to make the technique more accessible.  This will 
>> involve being able to access complex brain images in colour as well 
>> as graphs.
>> I was wondering whether anyone might be able to recommend the most 
>> appropriate assistive technology for tactile diagrams?  We've been 
>> looking into electronically refreshable devices, but there doesn't 
>> seem to be anything on the market, and we're not sure it would 
>> provide sufficient level of detail.  From our research, the most 
>> advanced technology seems to be the tiger embosser, although this 
>> also seems to have its limitations.
>> If anybody knows about the phantom device, and if it is sold in the 
>> UK, that would also be very helpful.
>> Another option we're looking into is converting images to sound-does 
>> anyone have any experience with this?
>> Also, for the data analysis, we use matlab and scientific linux.  
>> We're in the process of installing Ubuntu to use the orca speech 
>> software, but we're not really sure how much i twill be able to read.  
>> If anyone has experience with using linux with a Braille note taker, 
>> I'd also be really interested to know how compatible it is.
>> 
>> We would be really grateful for any advice
>> 
>> Many thanks
>> 
>> Nayab
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIMON UNGAR
Department of Psychology
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey GU2 7XH
U.K.

Tel: +44 (0) 1483 68 6895
Fax: +44 (0) 1483 68 6906

e-mail: s.ungar@xxxxxxxxxxxx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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