Design and Implementation of a QoL Improvement System for Visually Impaired Patients

Abstract

Visually impaired people encounter several challenges in their mobility and navigation. Their daily activities are obstructed due to their inability to adapt or recognize accurately their surroundings, especially outside their house which they are more familiar with. Thus, it becomes the main reason of accidents, falling off, getting lost in unknown areas, etc. Furthermore, one of the sensory systems that helps the body to process data about the external environment is the visual system. Blind people also lose touch with the outside world, develops poor motor habits, which results in postural problems as a result. This project will assist visually impaired people in their daily life and simplify normal tasks through a system combining two previously designed projects, “Smart Shoes for Blind and Visually Impaired People”, and “Human posture monitoring device”. The multifunctional system is developed with the goal of securing safe movements for visually impaired people as well as maintaining a good back posture by detecting leaning postures (LP). The purpose of the smart shoe is to identify obstacles and protect the user from unintended accidents. A compatible Android application has been developed to alert the user when there is an obstruction or when he is walking on a wet surface. Voice alarms will be used to acoustically alert the user. If the user collapses, a message with their position will be sent right away to a relative. On the other hand, the smart vest will identify the position of the user's back and alert him to maintain a straight posture through the same application as well. As the system is dealing with human health, some safety measurements would be taken into consideration to implement a safe electrical system in order to reduce error and to increase accuracy.