A Communication System for the Severely Handicapped, Including Computer Terminal Operation

Abstract

The aim of the work reported was to provide mentally alert individuals who have high level spinal damage with a system to enable them to communicate with other people and with equipment.

A two channel input was provided from the user by means of microswitches or other transducers such as suck blow switches to select a modified ASCII code. Standard ASCII code words assembled in a buffer were decoded to operate the keys of a typewriter, computer terminal, or to select a service.

Different methods for the assembly of the ASCII codes are described and evaluated in terms of typing speed.