An Image Processing Approach for Blind Mobility Facilitated Through Visual Intracortical Stimulation

Abstract

This article presents an image processing approach dedicated for a blind mobility aid facilitated through visual intracortical electrical stimulation. The method examines a display framework based on the distances related to a scene. The distances of objects to the walker are measured using a size perspective method which uses only one camera without any occlusion effect. The method extracts the information of the closest object to the camera and transfers a sense of distance to a blind walker. The proposed image processing method can estimate the distances of objects within 7.5m of the walker, and alert the presence of the closest object to the person. This new method offers the advantages of information reduction and scene understanding suitable for visual prosthesis. © 2012, the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2012, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.