Hands-free writing software may aid disabled users

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Hands-free writing software may aid disabled users

Last Updated: 2002-08-21 15:43:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Schorr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two British computer programmers have

developed a freely available software program that allows disabled

computer users to " type " using only the gaze of their eyes, according to

a report published in the journal Nature.

" The aim was to come up with a system that might be as fast with a

keyboard, but not require you to have ten fingers and the ability to use

a keyboard, " lead author Dr. MacKay, a member of the physics

department at the University of Cambridge, told Reuters Health.

The program, dubbed Dasher, allows computer users to visually flip

through an on-screen alphabet to consecutively select letters to form a

word. The system can be controlled by a computer mouse, rollerball or an

eye-tracking device that takes into account a user's eye motions. In

addition, the software program infers the writer's intentions to

complete the word or even the phrase.

Traditional on-screen keyboard systems feature eye-tracking devices that

require the user to direct their eye to the traditional QWERTY keyboard

displayed on the screen. Researchers said Dasher was an improvement over

such systems.

" To stare at the keys one at a time on an onscreen keyboard is

exhausting, " MacKay noted. " Your eyes didn't evolve to push buttons.

This is more fun. It feels like a natural activity for the eyes to be

engaged in. "

MacKay and colleague Dr. J. Ward describe the benefits of using

Dasher with an eye-tracker system in the August 22nd issue of Nature.

The researchers had two novice users and two experienced users use the

Dasher system, while others used a traditional onscreen keyboard system.

" The fastest speed we were able to get using the standard on-screen

keyboard was 15 words per minute, with 20% of words misspelled, " MacKay

said. " With Dasher, after an hour of practice, we were able to write up

to 25 words per minute, and the percentage of words misspelled is down

below 5%. "

MacKay conceived the Dasher system five years to better serve the

severely disabled community, as well as for typists who use personal

digital assistants and Japanese users limited by the traditional

keyboard.

MacKay said the researchers are making the software freely available to

all interested consumers at the website:

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/. He estimates that around

50,000 users have downloaded the software to date.

SOURCE: Nature 2002;116:838.