The Statistical Model for Ticker, an Adaptive Single-Switch Text-Entry Method for Visually Impaired Users

Abstract--This paper presents the statistical model for Ticker [1], a novel probabilistic stereophonic single-switch text entry method for visually-impaired users with motor disabilities who rely on single-switch scanning systems to communicate. All terminology and notation are defined in [1]. In Figure 1(a) a typical composite audio sequence that can be presented to the user is shown, where the composite sequence consists of two repetitions of the alphabet. In Ticker, the user selects one letter at a time when listening to such a sequence. In the shown example, the user can click twice per letter. The second repetition occurs in a different order than the first, which allows one to infer the intentional letter selection more accurately. The system does not explicitly make any selection after a click is received; instead the system accumulates evidence. After one or more clicks are received, the system internally updates the posterior word probabilities. It will then proceed to play the composite sequence again for the next letter. When the posterior probability of any word in a predefined dictionary is above a certain threshold, that word is selected.