The device is expected to "utilize an electro-active polymer film that can rise slightly and may even wiggle in response to electronic signals, enabling the user's fingertips to sense a pattern." And it may incorporate sound feedback so that users can steer their fingers along the screen.

"Eventually, if we can show this is feasible, I think this device will open up the world for people who are blind or visually impaired. The interface could help them sense contours and changes in shape and texture and use their fingers to perceive some of the computer images that people with normal vision take for granted," West said.

Currently, blind and visually impaired persons are able to use computers and access the Internet using Braille keyboards, but these can only process text and are usually expensive. The "Dynamic Tactile Interface for Visually Impaired and Blind People" will consist of three layers:

• The bottom layer will be a touch screen connected to a computer for audio feedback to communicate the position touched on the screen.
• The middle layer will have embedded isolated electrodes to address segments of the polymer top layer.
• The top layer will consist of an electro-active polymer film covered with a thin gold film. Segments of the top layer will be able to extend out from the surface as voltage is applied from the corresponding electrode in the middle layer.

"In a world that increasingly depends on graphical, pictorial and multimedia technology, visually impaired and blind people have struggled to keep up," Kretzschmar said. "If we can develop a viable dynamic tactile interface that allows graphic and pictorial information to be presented in real time in tactile rather than visual space, the amount of information available to visually impaired and blind individuals will increase dramatically."

The team has already begun to meet with representatives of the National Federation of the Blind and with visually impaired faculty members for advice on how this visual graphic technology can work best.