[Promotion-technology] Voice Recognition Device for Client with Multiple Disabilities

[Hayden Wallace Dahmm]

Dear all,

 

I am a recent engineering college graduate, and I also happen to be blind.
My professors at Swarthmore and I enjoyed developing tools for improving
classroom accessibility, but we are now considering access technology for a
different problem. If anyone might have experience or advice, your input
would be much appreciated.

 

The son of a college alum is profoundly disabled, and we are working to
develop a solution that will allow him to easily phone family and friends.
The client is blind, has an impaired memory, and he suffers reduced feeling
in his hands and arms. Consequently, the client cannot locate a mobile or
wall mounted phone. The family is interested in developing a system that
would allow the client to say something like "call Dad" anywhere in the
home, his father would be called, and the sound could be output over
speakers in any room.

 

We are working to determine the feasibility. Small microphones could be
mounted in each room, and a processor would analyze, but not store, audio
data continuously. If a special pattern appeared in the sound, then a call
would be placed. Using something like Siri or "Okay Google" might not be the
best option, since the client might struggle with remembering hard-set
commands.

 

We do not want to reinvent the wheel, so I thought I would run this past the
blindness community. If any members are aware of similar systems for the
disabled or could recommend other organizations to contact, your help would
be much appreciated. Any comments are more than welcomed. I hope we will
have results to share later.

 

Kind regards,

Hayden Dahmm

hwdahmm at live.com <mailto:hwdahmm at live.com> 

Swarthmore, '15