A VIDEO TO SPEECH PROCESSER HAL, THE HOMILETIC AUGMENTIVE LINQUIST

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY HAVE LED TO THEINTRODUCTION OF VARIOUS AIDS TO ASSIST THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED IN THE USE OF COMPUTERS. PRODUCTS CURRENTLY FALL INTO ONE OF TWO CATEGORIES: 1) APPLICATION SPECIFIC SOFTWARE THAT UTILIZES SPEECH SYNTHESIZERS, OR 2) TRANSPARENT UTILITIES THAT "READ" THE COMPUTER'S DISPLAY. THE MAJOR DRAWBACK TO THESE PRODUCTS IS THAT THEY ARE COMPUTER TYPE SPECIFIC AND DO NOT SUPPORT TEXT THAT MAY BE GRAPHICALLY PRODUCED. OTHER LIMITATIONS EXISTS. HAL, THE HOMILETIC AUGMENTIVE LINGUIST, A VIDEO TO SPEECH PROCESSOR, WOULD PROVIDE A COMPLETELY HARDWARE IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION TO AUDIBLE COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION ON VIDEO DISPLAYS. DETERMINING THE FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING HAL REQUIRES THREE MAJOR STEPS TO BE FUNDED UNDER A PHASE I CONTRACT: 1. RESEARCH OF CURRENTLY EXISTING VIDEO DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES. 2. RESEARCH INTO OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION AND IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN PROTOTYPE TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF HAL. COMPUTABILITY'S GOAL IN DEVELOPMENT OF HAL IS TO EXPAND THE USE OF COMPUTERS BY BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO NEED ADDITIONAL VERBAL STIMULI IN THEIR USE OF COMPUTERS. HAL WOULD BE A LOW COST,EXTERNAL PERIPHERAL DEVICE THAT LINKS EXISTING VIDEO DISPLAYS WITH A SPEECH SYNTHESIZER, AND WILL REQUIRE NO APPLICATION SOFTWARE CHANGES OR INTERNAL COMPUTER HARDWARE.