Title:	ASTRONOMY FOR THE BLIND AND THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Author(s):	John Gialelis, Andreas Papalambrou and Aristeidis Hlias
ISBN:	978-989-8533-89-0
Editors:	Mário Macedo
Year:	2019
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Visually Impaired People, Aural Interpretation of Astronomical Images, Digital Media
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	191
Last Page:	197
Language:	English
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Paper Abstract:	The need for growth and the social impact of assistive technology for the visually impaired and blind people is driven by the increasing ageing of the population and mainly of the blind population. Blind or visually impaired people cannot visually enjoy the magnificent astronomical objects and the universe and have great difficulty in engaging in the field of astronomy, which makes them feel even more socially excluded than they already are due to their condition, thus, enhancing their social introvertness. This work depicts a system which translates astronomical images into audible sounds. It involves recognition of the astronomical objects of interest inside a picture and separation from background sky and stars as well as detection of their shape, color and brightness. The detected images are then translated into audible sounds and vibration that correspond to the visual information detected. Our approach utilizes principles of state-of-the-art work, thus making sure the proposed system is embraced by the Visually Impaired and Blind People offering them the chance to significantly mitigate their social introvertness.
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