1. Tactile Graphics Research
Josh Scotland

2. Terminology
Accessibility: Amount to which a product is available to the population
Braille: Language read tactually with characters containing 6 dots
Tactile Graphics: Images in a tactile form that are used by low vision students

3. Braille Alphabet

4. Tactile Graphics

5. Translation Process Scan the image TGA text extraction
Optical character recognition
Braille Translation
Adobe Illustrator
Embossing
Tiger Embosser

6. The TGA

7. Translation Process

8. Pros / Cons Cons Lower quality Pros Quick Customizable Transportable
Much cheaper!

9. Audio Augmentation of Tactile Images for Greater Accessibility
Summer ‘09 Research
Audio Augmentation of Tactile Images for Greater Accessibility

10. Issue #1 Braille character sizes Limitation of information
12 vs. 29 pt fonts

11. Size of Braille

12. Size of Braille

13. Issue #2
“There are approximately 57,696 legally blind children in the U.S. Out of those school-age children, only 10 percent use Braille as their primary reading medium.”1
1 American Printing House for the Blind (2008), "Facts and Figures on Americans with Vision Loss", American Foundation for the Blind,

14. Solution: Audio
Having audio in conjunction with tactile graphics increases accessibility by solving these two issues:
Limitation of information: Less clutter, more info
Braille illiteracy: Accessible to the 90% that can’t read Braille

15. Digital Pen Technology
Use digital pens to play audio with tactile graphics
Digital paper has thousands of small dots
Pen has infrared camera that takes snapshots

16. Goal

17. Acknowledgments Richard Ladner, Mentor, CSE
Dan Comden, Adaptive Technology Lab
Jeffery Bigham, University of Rochester, CSE
Chandrika Jayant, Ph. D., CSE
Sangyun Hahn, Ph. D., CSE
Washington NASA Space Grant
National Federation of the Blind