Study on color discrimination device for QOL improvement of visually impaired people

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K04965
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Special needs education
• Research Institution: Kushiro National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Sasaki Atsushi 釧路工業高等専門学校, 創造工学科, 教授 (40215710)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 佐藤 英樹 釧路工業高等専門学校, 創造工学科, 助教 (20235378)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚障害 / 色識別装置 / QOLの向上

Outline of Final Research Achievements

If the visually-impaired can easily come to understand color information, this will assist in their independence. From our survey, we learned that there are no teaching materials that teach colors at special education support schools. The purpose of this study is to develop, and spread the popularity of, a compact, and inexpensive identification device. We believe that the spread of such a color identification device will lead to improvements in the quality of life of those who live with visual impairment.
We surveyed what users are looking for in terms of support devices, and determined the device specifications based on the survey results. We identified by converting the RGB color space into HSV color space. In this study, we developed a sub-$100 device that can emit sound from the device speaker. It can recognize the five basic hues of the Munsell color system and 10 neutral phases. We also depended a method of identifying black and white.

Free Research Field

障がい者用支援機器開発

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現状の色識別装置はサイズが大きく高価である．そのため使用に際しては煩わしさや気恥ずかしさを感じる．本装置は普及品のパーツを組み合わせたもので構成されており，小型・安価でパーソナルユースが可能である．その結果，視覚障害者がより手軽に色の情報を入手することができ，生活の質の向上に貢献する．
視覚に障害を持つ児童・生徒の教育においてパーソナルユースの色識別装置が普及すると，色に関する教育，自然の観察，理科実験での利用価値は高いと考える．日常生活においても，周りの物の色を認識できれば目的地への移動の助けとなり，衣類を選ぶ楽しみが増えるなど自立の手助けになることが予想される．