Passive Haptic Learning of Taiwanese Braille Writing for Visually Impaired Individuals

Abstract

Abstract In this article, a passive haptic learning method for Taiwanese Braille writing was developed for visually impaired individuals through the employment of an effective user-friendly learning strategy. This system was designed with portability and low cost by applying the learning concept of passive haptic learning. This system designed a pair of gloves for visually impaired people to study Braille writing. Furthermore, we also designed a Braille writing teaching system for visually impaired people to learn and practice the Braille writing. Depending on the learning content, the corresponding vibration motors on the glove fingertips vibrate to produce the Taiwan Braille input gestures. The visually impaired people then feel tactile vibration feedback from the glove fingertips. In addition, the corresponding auditory feedback is provided from the Braille writing teaching system. After receiving a series of tactile vibration feedback, user’s finger muscles could memorize the corresponding Braille input gestures by the passive haptic learning. In the practice mode, the teaching system randomly selects practice content and announces the selected content in an auditory manner. Visually impaired users must then input the corresponding Braille codes by using the Braille writing input module. This mode can further reinforce users’ memorization of correct Braille codes for Mandarin characters.