title: 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 7.5 m 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.
authors.affiliation: Polystim Neurotechnologies Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. hossein.mahvash@polymtl.ca
authors.forename: Hossein Mahvash
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghafar-Zadeh
authors.forename: Mohamad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sawan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001766:Blindness / Q000628:therapy; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010719:Phosphenes; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D057488:Visual Prosthesis; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities; D016138:Walking