tactile light-sound sensor

From: DAVID ANDREWS (da0011@epfl2.epflbalto.org)
Date: Sat Dec 10 1994 - 08:04:00 PST


My usual address is jddjeff@netcom.com, but I wanted to try pine 3.91.
Feel free to write directly to jddjeff@netcom.com or
jddjeff@sasquatch.scruznet.com.

I have an acquaintance/friend who is deaf-blind. I don't know
how to get on any list for deaf-blind, so I'm throwing these
ideas out here. I expect that the answer will be that it's too
expensive since I can only afford about $20 for such a device,
but at least people are thinking of this stuff. Now I think of
it, $20 is only about $3 more than a collapsible cane, also
required by many blind people.

I wonder if anybody has tried to create a device that responds to
both light and sound, vibrating when either is detected. I might
want to be able to switch between detecting light or sound or
detecting both, maybe vibrating differently depending on which is
being detected. I might want to adjust how hard the vibrations
occur, and I might want 2 have different settings for how strong
the light or sound must be before vibration occurs. I might want
to only detect or exclude from detection certain visible or
audible frequencies. While I'm dreaming, how about having 4
programmable chips for my specifications. I can program the
chips by either taking them out and plugging them into the
programmer box or by plugging the box directly to the sensor. It
is important to have easy access to replacing chips since I might
want to have 1 set of 4 chips 1 day at work and another set of 4
for another day of vacation and another set of 4 for when I get
home. Since I'm dreaming, I'll go off on another tangent. I
want each new chip to come in a storage box that has 4 8-dot
refreshable braille cells on it. The cells are mechanical rather
than electronic, and it is easy to change each dot, then lock it
into place. Each braille cell is cheap and easy to replace but
sturdy so the markings last a long time, especially if the
mini-braille-labels aren't changed often. Okay, too wild, but
I'm just becoming acquainted with some of the practical problems
involved with being deaf-blind in our world, and I'm just
thinking out loud.

I don't know how much the best but cheapest light sensor is which
gives off an audible signal in response to light, but I imagine
the device I described would be 5 times as expensive. Since I
haven't been able to afford an audible light sensor, I sure
wouldn't be able to afford a tactile light-sound sensor, but I
still wonder if such a thing could exist.

> JDD(Jeff) >>



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