Sensors of all kinds play significant roles in the way that we use and interact with technological devices today. Smartphones, household appliances, automobiles, and other products that we use every day incorporate many different kinds of sensors. While the sensors are hidden from view in the products, appliances, and tools that we use, they…

Imaging of artwork is an important aspect of art conservation, technical art history, and art authentication. Many forms of near-infrared (NIR) imaging are used by conservators, archaeologists, forensic scientists, and technical art historians to examine the underdrawings of paintings, to detect damages and restorations, to enhance faded or…

Detailed instructions (with diagrams) are provided for adapting a Sears demodulator so that it will function as a decoder. The modification separates audio and video signals, decodes, and the parts cost only about $50. Cautions that the modification should be performed by a qualified technician. (JN)

The article describes four of the most widely accepted and utilized Electronic Travel Aids for blind persons--the Lindsay Russell Pathsounder, the Mowat Sensor, the Sonicguide, and the C-5 Laser Cane. Current uses and applications of the four aids for specific populations of visually impaired persons are discussed. (Author)

This research analyzed both engineering and nontechnical issues involved in the use of Induction Loop Amplification (ILA) devices in auditoriums or large gathering places for hard-of-hearing individuals. A variety of parameters need to be taken into account to determine an optimal shape/configuration for the ILA device. In many cases, an optimal…

Discusses factors that affect how well students with hearing loss and typical students can hear in classrooms. Soundfield equalization is discussed as a way to create an environment where each child is at a favorable speaker-listener distance by routing the teacher's voice to loudspeakers around the classroom. (CR)

Description of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, which uses a special camera and computer to transform printed matter into synthetic speech; includes reading and sound production, machine operation, adjusting to different typefaces, and limitations. Review of the portable reading aid for the partially sighted, Viewscan, discusses characteristics,…

For most hard of hearing students, and for some who are deaf, hearing aids and related sound amplification devices are of great benefit in their communication and learning. Technology has more recently produced an additional array of electronic devices which benefit many hard of hearing students. This report will deal primarily with the relatively…

Computer software can be made accessible to physically handicapped individuals using interfaces. The trick performed by the interface is to make the handicapped individual's responses mediated through the interface indistinguishable from inputs that the software expects from users in normal hardware configurations. Several of these keyboard…

Discussion of technological advances in amplification for children with hearing impairments focuses on the advantages and limitations of fitting children with devices that have features such as dynamic-range compression, multiband signal processing, multimemory capability, digital feedback reduction, and frequency transposition. (Author/DB)

Many students who use hearing aids effectively in quiet environments have a difficult time following information presented in large college classrooms. In the classroom, the instructor's voice is competing with background noise, room echo, and distance. Therefore, the intelligibility of the instructor's voice is degraded by the poor room acoustics…