Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities
Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that weakens muscles and can lead to paralysis as it progresses. For patients with severe paralysis, eye-tracking devices such as eye mouse enable communication. However, the equipment is expensive, and the calibra...
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4555 |
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| author | Seungho Lee Sangkon Lee |
| author_facet | Seungho Lee Sangkon Lee |
| author_sort | Seungho Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that weakens muscles and can lead to paralysis as it progresses. For patients with severe paralysis, eye-tracking devices such as eye mouse enable communication. However, the equipment is expensive, and the calibration process is very difficult and frustrating for patients to use. To alleviate this problem, we propose a simple and efficient method to type texts intuitively with graphical guidance on the screen. Specifically, the method detects patients’ eye blinks in video frames to navigate through three sequential steps, narrowing down the choices from 9 letters, to 3 letters, and finally to a single letter (from a 26-letter alphabet). In this way, a patient is able to rapidly type a letter of the alphabet by blinking a minimum of three times and a maximum of nine times. The proposed method integrates an API of large language model (LLM) to further accelerate text input and correct sentences in terms of typographical errors, spacing, and upper/lower case. Experiments on ten participants demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms three state-of-the-art methods in both typing speed and typing accuracy, without requiring any calibration process. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-69c7d11ca56241c282bf43e06a9ceea7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj-art-69c7d11ca56241c282bf43e06a9ceea72025-08-20T04:00:55ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-07-012515455510.3390/s25154555Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor DisabilitiesSeungho Lee0Sangkon Lee1School of Future Technology, Korea University of Technology and Education, Choenan 31253, Republic of KoreaSchool of Industrial Management, Korea University of Technology and Education, Choenan 31253, Republic of KoreaLou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that weakens muscles and can lead to paralysis as it progresses. For patients with severe paralysis, eye-tracking devices such as eye mouse enable communication. However, the equipment is expensive, and the calibration process is very difficult and frustrating for patients to use. To alleviate this problem, we propose a simple and efficient method to type texts intuitively with graphical guidance on the screen. Specifically, the method detects patients’ eye blinks in video frames to navigate through three sequential steps, narrowing down the choices from 9 letters, to 3 letters, and finally to a single letter (from a 26-letter alphabet). In this way, a patient is able to rapidly type a letter of the alphabet by blinking a minimum of three times and a maximum of nine times. The proposed method integrates an API of large language model (LLM) to further accelerate text input and correct sentences in terms of typographical errors, spacing, and upper/lower case. Experiments on ten participants demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms three state-of-the-art methods in both typing speed and typing accuracy, without requiring any calibration process.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4555Lou Gehrig’s diseaseamyotrophic lateral sclerosiseye blinkingeye typingneuro-locomotor disabilities |
| spellingShingle | Seungho Lee Sangkon Lee Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities Sensors Lou Gehrig’s disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis eye blinking eye typing neuro-locomotor disabilities |
| title | Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities |
| title_full | Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities |
| title_fullStr | Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities |
| title_short | Text Typing Using Blink-to-Alphabet Tree for Patients with Neuro-Locomotor Disabilities |
| title_sort | text typing using blink to alphabet tree for patients with neuro locomotor disabilities |
| topic | Lou Gehrig’s disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis eye blinking eye typing neuro-locomotor disabilities |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4555 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seungholee texttypingusingblinktoalphabettreeforpatientswithneurolocomotordisabilities AT sangkonlee texttypingusingblinktoalphabettreeforpatientswithneurolocomotordisabilities |