Mobile travel aid for the blind

An electronic travel aid for the blind is presented in the paper. The built device features two main functionalities: a mobile phone and a remote assistant module. The device is capable of receiving and dispatching text messages, handling phone calls and browsing a contact book. Text messages, menu, contact book and so on are read by a speech synthesizer which was developed from scratch. The latter functionality, remote assistance, let a blind traveller contact an operator at a distant location in case of lost bearings. The operator terminal displays the geographical location of the blind traveller on a digital map as well as video sequence captured by a camera worn by the visually impaired person. The operator can guide the blind traveller along a path to a given destination or guide him back on the correct route if required. The presented prototype is under development, however, initial trials have been already conducted.