MEMORANDUM
To: Members And Friends
NFB R&D Committee
From: T. V. Cranmer, Chairman
Subject: Kay Ultrasonic devices
Date: April 7, 1994
Dr. Leslie Kay of New Zealand is well known to researchers in the
field of orientation and mobility for his long-sustained effort to
produce a device that enables a blind person to gather information
about his environment. Kay first came to my attention in the early
'60's when he was working on the Torch, first in the series of
super sonic devices. This hand-held Torch was used to sweep the
immediate vicinity of a traveler with a beam of supersonic energy
which was reflected by near by objects and then processed to
produce audible signals that could be interpreted by the blind
user. The Torch worked, sort of, although there were many
opportunities for improvement. Dr. Kay seized these opportunities
to produce the second design, the Sonic Spectacles. As the name
suggests, this device was contained in spectacle-like frames, thus
freeing the hands of the traveler for more important tasks. Like
the Torch, the Spectacles were not well received by blind consumers
or professionals in rehabilitation.
The Tri-Sensor is the third Kay device to be offered to the field.
It includes many improvements over earlier designs. In
fact, I regard this instrument with admiration for its truly
elegant engineering. Furthermore, it succeeds in providing a
trained user with much more useful information about his
surroundings than any other technology currently available or
envisioned for the near future. Why then don't we reach out to
embrace this marvelous technological advance?
That is the question I have been asking myself; I now pass it on to
you. If you want further information about the Tri-Sensor, or to
talk philosophy, call me. I am willing to answer specific
questions on this forum, however I will resist requests that
invite a full length article.
Here are just a couple of additional questions:
Do you expect that science and engineering will some day find ways
to extend the bandwidth of the sense of touch? Can we expect
alternative sensing methods with proficiency comparable to vision?
(There is an easy question for you.)
Should this committee, or NFB for that matter be interested in
electronic orientation and/or mobility aids?
Answers that include explanations will receive better grades.
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