'Subcommittee on Sensory Aids COMMITTEE ON THE INTERPLAY OF ENGINEERING WITH BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

To stimulate research proposals, the report stresses the need for a comprehensive research and development program regarding sensory aids for the visually handicapped and describes 17 representative projects viewed as warranting immediate attention. The 17 projects are categorized in two different ways. In a brief summary section, projects are classified according to whether they relate primarily to organization and planning or to R and D needs. Provided in the next section is a more detailed description of short-ter projects that .may be expected to yield successful early results (including new reading and mobility aids for the blind and studies of visual capabilitiei among the partially sighted) as well as long-ter projects (involving broader research in such areas as vocational opportunities, public information programs, sensory aids centers, technological applications, and research on the reading process among sighted individuals). Also listed are 19 source documents said to define problems, to describe the current state-of-the-art, or to indicate organizations and people currently active in the field of sensory aids for the visually impaired. (LH) *********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * ***********************************************************************