Developing an assistive interface for individuals with spasticity disorders

Abstract

Gesture-based computer interfaces have been aiding people with motor disabilities for the past two decades. Some of these tools utilize sophisticated equipment, while others require nothing more than a camera to allow a user to move a cursor on a screen, scroll a page up and down, or type on an on-screen keyboard. These tools work well for those who have lost movement in their arms, but still have retained adequate control of their heads\' posture. However, these tools are often expensive, complicated, and cannot accommodate for erroneous, spastic motions associated with individuals suffering from disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy. This work presents an overview of the existing interfaces, and a new approach to mitigating spasticity from such interfaces. An appending algorithm will be utilized to compensate for a wider range of physical disabilities, and to provide improved computer access to those suffering from spastic disorders. Progress made towards the fulfillment of this approach will be presented, along with implementation results and a critical analysis of the work within the targeted demographical context.
Autorzy: Lauren OLSON, Jad LUTFI,Timothy GOYA, Tarek A. El DOKER, Noel SMITH

1. INTRODUCTION

Many people with extreme physical impairments often suffer from a very limited means of communication and from lacking the ability to use conventional interfaces like a mouse or keyboard. Using a mouse, to them, becomes a big hurdle and an information bottleneck. In the United States alone 500000 people have been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP) [1], and are therefore in need of some sort of assistive device to enhance their interaction with a computer. Many assistive interfaces utilizing head-aim algorithms have been developed to address this very problem, by increasing the bandwidth of communication of those individuals with their surroundings. These interfaces are mostly referred to as head-aim devices. Such devices, though innovative conceptually, have not yet been tailored to meet the needs of a target demographic with physical impairments such as CP. Any solution to this problem being developed should also be able to address these issues as well as be cheap and flexible. It should also proliferate to and augment and many available interfaces, simply enhancing their performance for a targeted group of individuals.