Conversation between two individuals requires verbal dia logue; the majority of human communication however con sists of non-verbal cues such as gestures and facial expres sions. Blind individuals are thus hindered in their interac tion capabilities. To address this, we are building a com puter vision system with facial recognition and expression algorithms to relay nonverbal messages to a blind user. The device will communicate the identities and facial expressions of communication partners in realtime. In order to ensure that this device will be useful to the blind community, we conducted surveys and interviews and we are working with subjects to test prototypes of the device. This paper de scribes the algorithms and design concepts incorporated in this device, and it provides a commentary on early survey and interview results. A corresponding poster with demon stration stills is exhibited at this conference.

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