Published Online:April 2026
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJEEE040426
DOI:10.71329/IUPJEEE/2026.19.2.49-63
Author Name:S Rama Devi, S Aruna, D Sandya, D Deepthi, K Hima Bindu, Najma and P Sowmya
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Engineering
Download Format:PDF
Pages:49-63
The paper proposes a low-cost wearable communication system for people with speech disabilities, based on an infrared eye blink detection system and Bluetooth data transfer. An Arduino microcontroller was designed to transform a user’s eye blinks into a custom-modified version of Morse code, and a mobile app built using MIT App Inventor could decode the Morse code into text. Experimental results from 15 participants showed a stunning 98% decoding accuracy. The results illustrate that the system can run in near real-time and can be scaled significantly better than existing commercial Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. Overall, the proposed system provides a low-cost alternative to expensive commercial smart glasses to fill the gap in inclusive assistive technology and improves digital access for users with communication disabilities. Assistive communication applications today need heavy programing work to add text to speech capabilities, which increases the complexity for fast development. MIT App Inventor is an example of a low-code environment that helps create mobile applications. Future work for the system includes multilanguage support and potential application of artificial intelligence to predict the user’s eye blink patterns to further improve flexibility.
Communication is an essential tool for social interaction, yet traditional communication methods are difficult to use for those with severe disabilities such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).