Our objective is to enable the blind to use smartphones with touchscreens to make calls and to send text messages (sms) with ease, speed, and accuracy. We believe that with our proposed platform, which enables the blind to locate the position of the keypads, new games and education, and safety applications will be increasingly developed for the blind. This innovative idea can also be implemented on tablets for the blind, allowing them to use information websites such as Wikipedia and newspaper portals.
Visually impaired students (VIS) are unable to get visual information, which has made their learning process complicated. This paper discusses the overall situation of VIS in Bangladesh and identifies major challenges that they are facing in getting education. The Braille system is followed to educate blind students in Bangladesh. However, lack of Braille based educational resources and technological solutions have made the learning process lengthy and complicated for VIS. As a developing country, Bangladesh cannot afford for the costly Braille related technological tools for VIS. Therefore, a mobile phone based Braille application, "mBRAILLE", for Android platform is designed to provide an easy Braille learning technology for VIS in Bangladesh. The proposed design is evaluated by experts in assistive technology for students with disabilities, and advanced learners of Braille. The application aims to provide a Bangla and English Braille learning platform for VIS. In this paper, we depict iterative (participatory) design of the application along with a preliminary evaluation with 5 blind subjects, and 1 sighted and 2 blind experts. The results show that the design scored an overall satisfaction level of 4.53 out of 5 by all respondents, indicating that our design is ready for the next step of development.
Blindness is an area of inadequate the visual conception because of physiological or even neurological aspects. The partial blindness corresponds to the insufficient integration in the expansion of the optic confidence or perhaps visual center of the eye, and also over-all total blindness is the complete inadequacy of the visual light perception. Within this research, a basic, inexpensive, friendly user, sensible blind assist technique is developed to be integrated with the portability of both blind and even visually impaired people in a particular region. The presented work consists of a wearable apparatus is made up of the head hat to facilitate the blind particular person to get around single-handedly safely and securely in order to keep away from any kind of obstructions that could be experienced, even if mounted and also mobile phone, to avoid virtually any probable accident. The primary function of this product is the Ultrasonic sensing unit which is able to inform the blind people if there exist any specific obstacles or otherwise not around them along with the vibrating motor probably would informs the blind people who which negative are the obstacles located. In addition, by pressing the home or work button this system will straight away link to MIT app inventor and the app will send a signal to Google maps to guide the blind people to its desired location. The implemented system is fast, and easy to use and an innovative affordable solution to blind and visually impaired people in third world countries.
The purpose of this study was to gather information on the oral hygiene behaviour among the visually impaired adolescents. Interview and observation methods were used to collect data. A total of 114 visually impaired adolescents were interviewed and 10 of the interviewees were selected for observation on the actual oral hygiene practices. The mean age of the sample was 16 years old. The sample comprised of 53.5% female, majority were Malays (86.8%) and most of them were from the lower income group. Fifty four percent of the sample had low vision and 45.6% were blind. All of the participants reported that they brushed their teeth daily and most of them brushed twice a day or more. Flossing (6.1%) was not common practice among this group. It was observed that they encountered some difficulties, especially when putting the toothpaste on the toothbrush and also the way that they brushed their teeth could cause detrimental effect to the oral cavity. Thus, they need to be taught on proper oral hygiene care so that they can practice safe oral hygiene care and maintain their own oral health.
A middle-aged gentleman with history of left penetrating keratoplatsy presented with left eye perforated corneal graft secondary to infective keratitis. The affected eye was blind from absolute steroid-induced glaucoma. In view of expected poor graft survival in a blind eye, globe removal was offered. However, the patient refused the treatment and request for another corneal graft. This case highlights both the possibility of good outcome of cornea graft in such a case, and also illustrates that patient’s autonomy to refuse treatment option outweighs beneficence.
Objective: This is a case report discussing about the Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). CBS is a condition in which extremely vivid and well-formed visual hallucinations occur episodically with great profusion. They are typically experienced in clear consciousness, and
the insight is either retained or very quickly attained into the unreal nature of the phenomena. Method: We report a case of a 70 year-old Malaysian male who has been suffering from Tourette disorder for the past 40 years and was blind bilaterally. Results: He presented with episodic, nocturnal visual hallucinations. These occurred in clear
consciousness and the patient’s insight to these experiences was retained. There was no history of any other major psychiatric illness in this patient. Conclusion: This case illustrates a diagnosis of CBS with the differential diagnoses of epilepsy and other organic conditions.
This study proposed a new information and commutation technology assisted blind telephone interview (ICT-ABTI) system to help visually impaired people to do telephone interview jobs as normal sighted people and create more diverse employment opportunities for them. The study also used an ABAB design to assess the system with seven visually impaired people. As the results, they can accomplish 3070 effective telephone interviews per month independently. The results also show that working performance of the visually impaired can be improved effectively with appropriate design of operation working flow and accessible software. The visually impaired become productive, lucrative, and self-sufficient by using ICT-ABTI system to do telephone interview jobs. The results were also shared through the APEC Digital Opportunity Center platform to help visually impaired in Philippines, Malaysia and China.
Managing stairs is a challenging activity of daily living (ADL) for older people. This study aims to examine the association between visual impairment and difficulty in managing stairs among older people living alone and those living with others.
A national study was conducted in children attending six schools for the blind in Malaysia to identify the anatomical site and underlying causes of blindness (BL) and severe visual impairment (SVI), with a view to determine the potentially preventable and treatable causes so that appropriate control measures can be implemented in the future. The standardized clinical examination of eyes was performed and the findings were recorded on the WHO Prevention of Blindness Programme eye examination record form for children with blindness and low vision. A total of 358 children aged between 7 and 17 years were examined, of whom 332 (92.7%) were blind or severely visually impaired. The results relate to these 332 children. Lens was the major anatomical site (22.3%) of visual loss followed by retina (20.8%), whole globe (17.2%), cornea (15.1%), optic nerve (8.7%) and uvea (5.1%). Glaucoma was responsible for BL/SVI in 7.2% and others in 3.6% of cases. Hereditary diseases were responsible for visual loss in 29.5%, intrauterine factors in 4.5%, perinatal factors in 9% and childhood factors in 7.8% of cases. However, the aetiology was unknown in 49.1% of cases which included congenital anomalies of the globe. Childhood cataract and corneal scarring are major treatable causes of BL/SVI that can benefit from future intervention strategies. Perinatal screening for intrauterine factors and hereditary eye diseases, and appropriate interventional therapy will help in reducing the prevalence of childhood blindness.
Matched MeSH terms: Visually Impaired Persons/statistics & numerical data
Background/Purpose: Visual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages to the daily activities amongst those blind. For almost a century since the white cane was first introduced, the cane has remained as the most reliable tool for those affected by blindness.Methods: By using a combination of the capabilities of Internet of Things (IoT) and existing devices, such as mobile phones, an InWalker system is proposed to expand the functionality of the typical white cane, so as to introduce several new features that enhance the safety and confidence amongst people who are blind. As such, this paper explores the existing works and projects to comprehend the motivation and the standard practices for each proposed feature. Each of the strength and drawback has been assessed thoroughly to refine the scope of this project.Results: The proposed project, InWalker, is an intelligent system that has an embedded board system with various sensors to enhance the usability of white cane. The inputs from the sensor are processed on a microcontroller, which then pass the data to a smartphone via Bluetooth for additional features, such as global positioning system (GPS) tracking and SMS services.Conclusions: Based on the initial user testing, the proposed system has successfully fulfilled most of the users' need.Implication for RehabilitationVisual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages amongst those blind.The white cane has been seen as the most reliable tool for the visual impaired.This tool could be further improved with the integration of additional sensors that works with today's mobile devices.The proposed system, InWalker, is able to improve the overall quality of life among people who are blind through several features: obstacle detection, GPS tracking and a light illumination in dark environments for increased safety.
Nowadays, the scientific knowledge is developing frequently in numerous characteristics to be able to offer versatile and also safe and sound tendency for the users. At this time many of prevalent together with employed indicate by the visually impaired people are using the ivory stick, nonetheless it possesses constraints. With the recent technological innovation, it is easy to prolong the assistance acquire for people who have visual disability throughout their movability; this design endorses a cost-effective ultrasonic stick for visually encountered people today, to be able to achieve an exclusive self-reliance and even exempt from the additional assist. A portable convenient to use technology is designed which could recognize the obstructions in the way working with ultrasonic sensors in addition to vibrator. Ultrasonic sensors will be able to inspect three types of distinct heights. Vibrator is frequently used as a substitute gadget in the areas that surrounds with the minimal signal coverage also nosy environment. The buzzer and vibration motor are initialized while any kind of hindrance is identified. Global positioning system device presents the details about to the proceeding approach both work or even home, that has been supplied considering that control keys together with a contingency switch. Text message unit is utilized by the blind to send out SMS info to the saved phone numbers in the Arduino in the event of unexpected emergency.
Data on the prevalence and causes of functional low vision (FLV) in adults and children are lacking but are important for planning low-vision services. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and causes of FLV among children recruited in eight population-based prevalence surveys of visual impairment and refractive error from six countries (India [2 locations]; China [2 locations]; Malaysia, Chile, Nepal, and South Africa).
Introduction: Children with visual impairment are reported to be at higher risk of poor oral health. They faced dif- ficulties in basic skills including oral care. For this reason, they may develop dental caries and periodontal disease. The aim of this study was to assess the oral health status of a group of visually impaired school children in Kuala Lumpur. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on students from a Special Education School in Kuala Lumpur. Oral examination was conducted to determine caries experience and oral hygiene status. Caries was mea- sured using DMFT index and simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) for oral hygiene status. Oral examination was based on modified World Health Organization (WHO) oral health assessment criteria for children. Chi-square test was used to determine associations between demographic variables and oral health status. Results: A total of 91 visually impaired students (41 blind, 50 low vision) within the age group of 13 to 17 years old participated in this study. The mean OHI-S score was 1.68 (SD 0.87) with majority of students had fair oral hygiene (39.6%) and 29.7% with poor and very poor oral hygiene. The mean DMFT score of total students were 0.80 (SD 1.62). Male students demonstrated significantly better oral health status than female in relation to prevalence and mean score of dental caries. Conclusion: Most of the visually impaired children in this study showed fair oral health status. Regular oral health education is recommended to improve the oral hygiene especially in the totally blind group.
Background : Visual impairment among the rural community has rarely been studied in this country. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of visual impairment and its related factors among the adult population of Kampung Kuala Pajam, Branang.
Methodology : A cross sectional study was carried out in Kampung Kuala Pajam, Mukim Beranang from 25th of December till 30th of December 2007. Universal sampling is adopted and the sample size consists of 321 respondents who is 18 years and above. Trained interviewer has been used to obtain the data through questionnaire and eye examinations using logMAR chart, Red Reflex eye test, Relative Afferent Pupillary Defect (RAPD) test and Pin-Hole test.
Result : A total of 261 respondents who fulfil the criteria were interviewed and had eyes examination during the study period. The prevalence of visual impairment in this population was 9.2% and factors that showed significant association were age (p