i-Math: Automatic math reader for Thai blind and visually impaired students

摘要

We propose an automatic math expression reading system, called i-Math. i-Math is an educational tool, for blind and visually impaired (VI) students, to facilitate access to math materials. Although blind and VI students can access math documents/materials via many channels, e.g., human reader, math Braille codes, and audio (talking) books, these channels have limited availability. i-Math was designed to be an automatic reading aided tool and also a math learning and teaching tool for both students and teachers. i-Math operated with screen reader produce voice output on a computer. i-Math can read math documents aloud. Students can enjoy their newfound ability to read and practice math anytime and anywhere with i-Math while teachers can prepare their classroom handouts, assignments and exercises in audio version conveniently. The evaluation of i-Math was conducted with 78 blind and VI students and six teachers. The evaluation results indicate that math materials can be easily accessible to blind and VI students through i-Math and then, they can independently and comfortably study and practice their mathematics.