Design of virtual keyboard using blink control method for the severely disabled

Abstract

In this paper, a human-machine interface with the concept of "blink control" is proposed. The human-machine interface is applied to an assistive device, namely "blink scanning keyboard", which is designed specifically for the severely physical disabled and people suffering from motor neuron diseases or severe cerebral palsy. The pseudo electromyography (EMG) signal of blinking eyes could be acquired by wearing a Bluetooth headset with one sensor on the forehead and the other three on the left ear of the user. Through a conscious blink, a clear and immediate variation will be formed in the pseudo EMG signal from the users' forehead. The occurrence of this variation in pseudo EMG signal could be detected and filtered by the algorithms proposed in this paper, acting like a trigger to activate the functions integrated in the scanning keyboard. The severely physical and visual disabled then can operate the proposed design by simply blinking their eyes, thus communicating with outside world. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.