No description available.

The Lexiphone is a reading machine for the blind which makes an optical to auditory transformation from the printed character to a sound code. This thesis is the development of a computer-based environment for studying the code. Fluctuations in the code signals generated by repeated scanning of the same ink pattern were studied using a Fourier analysis routine. From the Fourier coefficients representing these code signals it was established that the error in mean pitch of the code sound produced for the letter "s" is less than 1%. This error is typical for the alphabet and does not cause the blind user difficulty. The method of compressing the code signals is explained and studied with the aid of a Hadamard transform routine. This transform permits ready, comparison of compressed and uncompressed code signals. The results of direct comparisons between uncompressed code and compressed code are disappointing: the two presentations seem approximately equivalent. The reading rate in words per minute for a blind subject trained to read with the uncompressed code was not improved with the compressed code. A previous worker had found that the compressed code for letters was better discriminated and easier to learn. In. another experiment reported in the thesis six sighted subjects were used: three subjects were taught eight four-letter words presented in uncompressed code and the other three were taught the same words in a compressed version of the code. The learning curves for the two groups were approximately the same. Experimental time for subject testing was less than that used by the previous worker and suggestions are made for further experiments which may elucidate the problem of reading compressed code. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

An experimental reading machine for the blind has been built to test a proposed multidimensional audible code. This device, patterned after the popular Optophone reader, can generate either the multidimensional code or a simulated version of the Optophone code. The results of tests carried out with two blind subjects show that multidimensionally-encoded letters and words can be learned and "read" with reasonable accuracy, even when entirely different dimensions of the code are utilized. A comparative evaluation of the multidimensional and Optophone codes, based on the performance of 52 sighted persons, suggests that the multidimensional code provides a better basis for letter discrimination. A detailed study of the discrete print signals produced by this machine is presented. The results of this study suggest that this particular print scanning system does not lend itself to automatic letter recognition, but that, with some pre-processing of the print information, some optimization of the audible code can be achieved. It is also demonstrated that the information produced by this machine is highly redundant, and that the discrete nature of the print translation process may psychologically limit the maximum reading speed, regardless of the audible code employed. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

A compact reading machine ("Lexiphone") has been designed and constructed to convert printed letters into a pattern of sounds. The machine reads by direct translation of vertical sections of the letters, according to a recently developed code. In this code, the "melody" produced is independent of the vertical position of the reading head ; however the user is given an indication (mean pitch) of the vertical position to-facilitate tracking along a line of print. The discrete nature of the direct translation process limits the theoretically possible reading rates. Tests with artificially generated codes were performed to investigate this limit, and it is expected that the limit will be above that for Morse Code-- 60 to 70 words per minute. This would be adequate for practical use. Tests performed at Haskins Laboratories predicted similar performance for other machines, such as the optophone⁽⁴⁾. However, practical users of the "Battelle Optophone", the most refined version of the optophone, attained only 25 words per minute (on Grade I reading material) after an extensive course⁽⁸⁾ . It is suggested that this was due to the difficulty in the earlier machines of producing repeatable versions of the code. Code sounds from the present Lexiphone prototype were found to be very consistent and repeatable, and should allow the predicted reading rates to be approached. Practical reading results with the machine are presented. At the time of writing, a subject training with the machine is reading two-page passages of Grade III material at 30 words per minute, and her performance is still improving. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The problem of the study was to determine the effects of student use of Skill-Builder Controlled Reader training in facilitating skill development in beginning and intermediate typewriting classes at the college level.

This thesis is concerned with interfacing a magnetic stripe reader with an AT&T PC 6300 consisting of a 20 MB hard disk and with collecting laboratory usage statistics. Laboratory usage statistics includes the name and social security number of the student,along with other necessary details. This system replaces all manual modes of entering data, checks for typographical errors, renames the file containing a particular day's data to a file that has the current day's date as its new filename, and keeps track of the number of students for a particular day. This procedure will ensure security of laboratory equipment and can be modified for each computer laboratory on campus. The program results indicate an acceleration of data entry, favorable student response, and an increase in the accuracy of the data recorded. / Department of Computer Science

The subject of machine recognition of connected characters is investigated. A generic single character recognizer (SCR) assumes there is only one character in the image. The goal of this project is to design a connected character segmentation algorithm (CCSA) without the above assumption. The newly designed CCSA will make use of a readily available SCR. The input image (e.g. a word with touching letters) is first transformed (thinned) into its skeletal form. The CCSA will then extract the image features (nodes and branches) and store them in a hierarchical form. The hierarchy stems from the left-to-right rule of writing of the English language. The CCSA will first attempt to recognize the first letter. When this is done, the first letter is deleted and the algorithm repeats. After extracting the image features, the CCSA starts to create a set of test images from the beginning of the word (i.e. beginning of the description). Each test image contains one more feature than its predecessor. The number of test images in the set is constrained by a predetermined fixed width or a fixed total number of features. The SCR is then called to examine each test image. The recognizable test image(s) in the set are extracted. Let each recognizable test image be denoted by C₁. For each C₁, a string of letters C₂, C₃, CL is formed. C₂ is the best recognized test image in a set of test images created after the deletion of C₁ from the beginning of the current word. C₃ through CL are created by the same method. All such strings are examined to determine which string contains the best recognized C₁. Experimental results on test images with two characters yield a recognition rate of 72.66%. Examples with more than two characters are also shown. Furthermore, the experimental results suggested that topologically simple test images can be more difficult to recognize than those which are topologically more complex. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

[by] Thomas P. Barnwell III. / Also issued as a Ph.D. thesis in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, 1970. / Bibliography: p.114-115. / Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E).