Gannett News Service - FINAL EDITION - JULY 30, 1998 - ARC
WASHINGTON -- University of Delaware students this fall might notice sophomore Krista Caudill carrying around an unusual device: a computer that will ``speak'' as she types braille, and will translate other people's conversation into braille.
``This will be a great way for deaf and blind people to communicate, and not have to solely rely on interpreters,'' Caudill, 24, said via a sign language interpreter at a news conference here.
Many others could benefit, too: There are at least 70,000 deaf and blind people in the United States, according to the Helen Keller National Center.
The National Science Foundation in March granted Richard A. Foulds $98,000 to study ways for deaf and blind people to communicate, and to study the process of communication itself.
Foulds is a professor of computer science at the University of Delaware and director of the Gesture and Movement Dynamics Laboratory at A.I. duPont Hospital. Caudill, along with computer programmer Beth Finn, are helping Foulds design the device.
``The beauty of the project is that everything in it is commercial, off-the-shelf technology,'' he said.
A voice recognition program can be bought at Staples for $149, he said, thousands less than the cost when he was preparing the grant application only a year ago. A computer that changes type into braille can be bought for a few thousand dollars.
In total, Caudill's prototype device can be assembled for probably $2,500, he said.
By contrast, hiring a sign language interpreter costs around $35 an hour. To ``hear'' what others say now, Caudill must hold the interpreter's hands. To speak, the interpreter must translate her signings.
She graduated from Wilmington Friends School in 1993, where she also used an interpreter.
``My education at Wilmington Friends School was fabulous,'' she said. ``But my social life, I'll have to admit, was pretty so-so.''
Early friends disappeared as she entered her teens, she recalled. ``People just weren't really interested in hanging around me much. I felt isolated and depressed.''
After briefly attending Gallaudet University for the Deaf in Washington, she transferred to Delaware Technical Community College and then, last year, to the University of Delaware. A computer science major, she lives with her mother in Wilmington.
Caudill's blindness and deafness were caused by a genetic disease called Leber's syndrome. Though born with partial sight and hearing, she can now see only vague light and dark shadows and hear only very loud noises.
Caudill, who communicated best via computer, has loved and been fascinated by computers since she got her first Apple in third grade.
``The Internet has opened up a lot to me,'' she said. She has met other deaf and blind people via chat groups and e-mail. ``I met my significant other on the Internet. We have been together three years now,'' she said.
The translating device is still being assembled. Parts must be modified so they can ``talk'' to one another, but the manufacturers have been quite cooperative, Caudill and Foulds said.
The idea isn't to come up with a machine that can be marketed, since the National Science Foundation isn't in the machine-building business, Foulds said. What they're seeking is a ``recipe'' that other deaf and blind people can use to assemble commercially available components.
Caudill said the machine will allow her to go to study groups, ride the bus, or have a spontaneous conversation without having to rely on a sign language translator.
``The dream is to give her a laptop she can carry on her shoulder,'' Foulds said.``It would open a lot of doors for me and for other deaf-blind people,'' she added.