Scientists Develop Computer Mouse for the Blind
Mon Sep 9, 9:32 AM ET

LEICESTER, England (Reuters) - Scientists looking for ways to help blind
people get more out of computers have developed a mouse that goes bump and
combined
it with sound representations of graphs that would otherwise be
inaccessible.

Mike Burton of Glasgow University told reporters at the British Association
for the Advancement of Science (
news -
web sites)
annual festival the mouse vibrated every time it met a line on a graph,
giving a blind operator a tactile tip-off.

"The technique is a very good way of presenting information to blind and
sighted people," he said. "The bottom line is that the cheapest and most
flexible
solution works."

Likening the jumping mouse to electronic Braille, Burton said one of the
most daunting tasks facing visually impaired people was trying to assimilate
information
giving an overview of data or events.

Reinforcing the tactile jolt of the mouse, fellow Glasgow University
scientist Stephen Brewster said his team had developed sound graphs that
could be combined
with the mouse.

Lines on a graph were represented by tones that would vary in pitch
according to whether the line was rising or falling.

Several such tones could be used to represent different lines of the same
graph as the user entered a "soundscape."

"You can get across quite complex information just using sound," he said,
adding that the technique could even be of use to sighted people such as
share
traders who could be alerted on their mobile phones by a tone representing a
move up or down.

He declined to speculate on the sound of a stock market crash.


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