Date of Award
Summer 2014
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (MSIE)
Department
Industrial Engineering
First Advisor
Bradley S. Duerstock
Second Advisor
Juan P. Wachs
Committee Chair
Bradley S. Duerstock
Committee Co-Chair
Juan P. Wachs
Committee Member 1
Vincent Duffy
Abstract
Currently there is no suitable substitute technology to enable blind or visually impaired (BVI) people to interpret visual scientific data commonly generated during lab experimentation in real time, such as performing light microscopy, spectrometry, and observing chemical reactions. This reliance upon visual interpretation of scientific data certainly impedes students and scientists that are BVI from advancing in careers in medicine, biology, chemistry, and other scientific fields. To address this challenge, a real-time multimodal image perception system is developed to transform standard laboratory blood smear images for persons with BVI to perceive, employing a combination of auditory, haptic, and vibrotactile feedbacks. These sensory feedbacks are used to convey visual information through alternative perceptual channels, thus creating a palette of multimodal, sensorial information. A Bayesian network is developed to characterize images through two groups of features of interest: primary and peripheral features. Causal relation links were established between these two groups of features. Then, a method was conceived for optimal matching between primary features and sensory modalities. Experimental results confirmed this real-time approach of higher accuracy in recognizing and analyzing objects within images compared to tactile images.
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Ting, "Multimodal perception of histological images for persons blind or visually impaired" (2014). Open Access Theses. 715.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses/715