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