DBS Media Report
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Medical Press:
<https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-game-soccer-players-aids-visually.ht
ml> Head In The Game: Blind Soccer Players Help Develop New Aids For The
Visually Impaired
Blind soccer is a sport that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of visual
ability. Except for the goalkeepers, players are blindfolded during the
game, and can follow the location of the ball using the sounds it emits. To
better understand the way visually impaired players are able to receive and
control the ball, scientists at the University of Tsukuba recruited both
experienced blind soccer players as well as sighted nonathlete volunteers. A
system of ten cameras was used to keep track of the three-dimensional
position of the reflective markers attached to the body of each test
subject. The task for each participant was to trap an incoming rolling ball
with his right foot while blindfolded.
Eye Health
Inside HPC:
<https://insidehpc.com/2020/11/using-ai-to-see-what-eye-doctors-cant/> Using
AI To See What Eye Doctors Can't
This white paper, "Using AI to See What Eye Doctors Can't," explains how
Voxeleron, a leader in delivering advanced ophthalmic image analysis and
machine learning solutions, is extending ophthalmology's diagnostic horizons
with image analysis based on artificial intelligence (AI) models, trained
using Dell Precision workstations with NVIDIA GPUs. In order to process 3D
data sets in a deep-learning, convolutional neural network (CNN) model,
Voxeleron needed dramatically more computer processing power. Its goal? A
tool to help ophthalmologists predict when patients with dry age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) might advance, leading to blindness.
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Technology
Google
<https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2020/11/googles-project-guideline-i
s-going-to.html> 's Project Guideline Is Going To Help People With Visual
Impairments To Be More Independent And Run Races By Themselves
As per Venture, the basic plan for this system to work is that when a runner
attaches their Android phone to a special harness developed and designed by
Google around their waist and switch on their Project Guideline app in their
phone, the app will use their phone's camera to guide them about the course
that they are running on. When the runner veers off from their track and
goes a little astray, the app will send audio signals to their
bone-conducting headphones. The sound will get louder the more astray the
runner goes.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Accessibility
Sierra Club:
<https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/burgeoning-movement-improves-outdoor-acce
ssibility-for-blind> A Burgeoning Movement Improves Outdoor Accessibility
For The Blind
Although an estimated 32.2 million adults in the US identify as blind or
unable to see, or experience difficulty seeing even with corrective lenses,
many nature-based experiences remain difficult to access for blind and
partially sighted individuals. Some of these barriers are physical.
Nature-based experiences often require venturing into geographically
isolated places, which of course becomes especially difficult for
individuals who depend on public transportation. And once there, people who
are blind or partially sighted may grapple with additional challenges, says
Christopher Dixon, youth program manager at the Center for the Visually
Impaired in Daytona Beach, Florida. Seemingly simple endeavors like
navigating new terrain or finding a trailhead can be tricky in the absence
of accessible information.
Eye Health
UT Dallas: Professor Works To Bring New Brain Implant For The Blind Closer
To Reality
<https://www.utdallas.edu/news/science-technology/brain-implant-blindness-20
20/>
The project involves implanting devices containing small electrodes into the
occipital cortex, a part of the brain that processes visual information. The
device will receive signals based on images from a camera that the user
wears on a headband. The signals command the implanted devices to
electrically stimulate neurons to produce an apparent visual perception of
tiny white spots called phosphenes. Researchers hope these white spots can
form images that can help people with blindness better recognize objects and
navigate their surroundings.
