Low cost device to help paralysed patients communicate

Scientists have designed a low cost device that detects eye blinks or finger movements to allow sufferers of severe paralysis and speech loss to communicate, without the need for an interpreter.
The digital letter board m(eye)DAQ detects eye blinks or finger movements which are fed into a LabVIEW application - a graphical programming environment which converts the movement into sentences before reading them aloud.
The low cost system uses an optical reflectance sensor, a pair of 3D cinema glasses and two resistors.
The finger movement detection circuit comprises of a simple switch, which in the case of the prototype is an upcycled doorbell to provide a large, sturdy surface to press on.

The sensor is mounted onto the frame of the glasses close to the user's eyes and emits an infra-red signal at the white of the user's eye.
The software then analyses the signal to detect whether or not a change has taken place.

It is at this point that the user is able to scroll and select letters from a digital letter board to form sentences which are then read aloud by the computer, aided by a predictive text function.
"I have been able to create a prototype at a total cost of 164 pounds," said Robert Green, a mechanical engineering student from Loughborough University in UK, who designed the device.

"I hope to significantly improve the lives of people suffering from degenerative conditions such as locked-in syndrome (LIS) by giving a voice to those who are unable to speak and who have very limited body movement.
"I also plan to incorporate digital communications such as text messages, email or social media," Green added.