Ender Tekin

I am an Associate Scientist at the Waisman Center where my primary focus is in harnessing new mobile technologies to provide access to environmental information for individuals with vision loss. As mobile devices and wearable technologies proliferate, there are new avenues to interact with the constant mesh of devices and appliances in the environment, opening up new possibilities to improve the independence and self-sufficiency of persons with vision loss.

My affiliation with the BHSL stems from my interest in the intersection of auditory and visual domains. Using my background in digital signal processing and computer vision, I am exploring using emerging technologies to improve communication aids for persons with vision and hearing loss, a rapidly growing segment of the population as life expectancies increase. Whereas persons who have hearing loss but good vision can make use of facial cues to improve their speech reception, persons who have combined vision and hearing loss are unable to compensate in this manner. I am investigating ways to combine audio and video inputs in a communication aid in order to improve speech reception for persons with such dual sensory loss.