Multimodal human-computer interfaces based on advanced video and audio analysis

Abstract

Multimodal interfaces development history is reviewed briefly in the introduction. Examples of applications of multimodal interfaces to education software and for the disabled people are presented, including interactive electronic whiteboard based on video image analysis, application for controlling computers with mouth gestures and the audio interface for speech stretching for hearing impaired and stuttering people. The Smart Pen providing a tool for supporting therapy of developmental dyslexia is presented and results achieved with its application are discussed. The eye-gaze tracking system named “Cyber-Eye” developed at the Multimedia Systems Department employed to many kinds of experiments is presented including analysis of visual activity of patients remaining in vegetative state and their awareness evaluation. The scent emitting multimodal computer interface provides an important supplement of the polysensoric stimulation process, playing an essential role in education and therapy of children with certain developmental disorders. A new approach to diagnosing Parkinson's disease is shown. The progression of the disease can be measured employing the UPDRS (Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale) scale which is used to evaluate motor and behavioral symptoms of Parkinson's disease, based on the multimodal interface called Virtual-Touchpad (VTP) used for supporting medical diagnosis. The paper is concluded with some general remarks concerning the role of multimodal computer interfaces applied to learning, therapy and everyday usage of computerized devices.