Technology Helps Visually Impaired Perceive Facial Expressions

– Meet Li Liu

"People use facial expressions to switch topics of conversation and to assess attitudes of other individuals. A smile indicates that the person we are talking to is pleased, moved, content, and so on."

"People with impaired vision lack the information about feelings expressed in the faces of others, so they find it more difficult to interact in social situations. They are forced to rely on hearing to perceive the feelings of others. Studies show that over 65% of the information conveyed in everyday, face-to-face conversation is non-verbal. For instance, it´s difficult to perceive fear through voice alone."

"Receiving reliable, direct, emotional information from facial expressions can substantially improve the ability of the visually impaired to communicate and interact. Hence, this project aims to use technology to communicate facial expressions. A vibrating pattern from the back of a chair will be developed to convey human emotions via sensory cells instead of through vision."

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