Saturday, September 8, 2007

Mouse alternative devices: How I use the computer

I cannot move my hands at all and yet I can move mouse pointer on the computer screen. How do I do this? Well it is because I use special assistive devices. I was introduced to such devices when I was in Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center by people at CART, the same folks that taught me Dragon Naturallyspeaking speech recognition software. There are many options (assistive devices) but I found two systems that I liked in particular.

1. Integramouse
This device is placed close to one’s mouth using special arm-like mounting rod. Using lips one can move the tip of the Integramouse and this small motion translates into movement of mouse pointer on the screen. They say it takes less than 10 g of lip pressure to active the mouse. Integramouse plugs into the computer via USB connector, and the beauty of it is that most types of computers including Windows, Macs and workstations recognizes it as mouse device right away without any driver. It is basically a sip and puff system; in order to click the left button of the mouse, one has to sip, and to click the right button one needs to puff on it. Integramouse can be found on online Internet stores in U.S. But I think it was developed in Austria. The integramouse itself is about $2000. However, don’t forget to buy the mounting rod called “Universal Mounting System” which is an additional $200 or so. I bought mine at ‘Infogrip’ (http://www.infogrip.com). Then I bought the second one from ‘Tash’ (http://www.tash.com). The Integramouse has become the most widely used assistive devices for me and I cannot imagine doing my job without it. I strongly recommend to anyone who cannot use hands like me. I found that people that have small mobility with hands tend not to these devices.

2. HeadMouse Extreme
This is a device that I use when I work in bed. HeadMouse Extreme tracks the movement of your hand using a special reflective sticker placed on your forehead. It plugs into the computer via USB connector. The maker is Origin Instruments (http://orin.com) and is again available at various online Internet stores. I bought mine a little over $1000. One has to get the mounting bracket and reflective stickers called targets. Since HeadMouse only allows movement of mouse pointer (as opposed to clicking), one must get either Sip/Puff Switch or clicking software called Dragger from Origin Instruments. They are additional costs. I use the Dragger software which costs several tens of dollars with the HeadMouse. I’m also very satisfied with the HeadMouse as I can extend my working hours which I need because it is slower without hands.

2 comments:

Aleksander said...

What speech recognition software would you recommend?

Franck Dernoncourt said...

For the voice recognition software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking is very accurate. For the head mouse tracking, SmartNAV is cheaper (~ 400 USD), I use it all the time on Windows, it works great. I don't have any disability, I simply use it to improve the efficiency of the usual keyboard+mouse setup.