The talking color identifying device for the visually impaired

This paper aims to design and implement a prototype of an affordable talking color identifier for individuals with visual impairment. The proposed device assists the visually impaired in identifying the color of materials and objects by enunciating the color name in four different languages: Thai, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese. An Arduino pro-mini-328 micro-controller is utilized to control the programmable color light-to-frequency converter. An 8 × 8 light emitting diode array on the converter receives object-reflected light, whose irradiance is converted into square wave. The micro-controller then converts the square wave's frequency into a universal RGB code. Once the color code has been obtained, it is compared against the color-coded lookup table, during which the closest color is chosen. MP3 embedded module then selects the pre-recorded MP3 audio file corresponding to the chosen color and decodes the file into an audio signal. Lastly, the audio signal is amplified and sent to the speakers. This device has been assessed by 30 sighted people and 15 visually impaired students. Among the sighted people, the device scores 86.30% in the aspect of design, 64.58% in accuracy, 86.66% in ease of use, and 85.00% in the appropriateness of the price. In contrast, among the visually impaired students, the device scores 100.00% in the aspect of design, 67.92% in accuracy, 100.00% in ease of use, and 100.00% in the appropriateness of the price. The most favored language modes in order of preference are Thai, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese, respectively. Compared to the market alternatives, our device costs 2–3 times lower and is affordable among individuals with low income.