12 replies to this topic

[maxsideburn]

I am looking for someone who can write a program for me, it would probably take an experienced programmer 5 minutes or less. Alas my area of expertise is in graphics and audio/video, not programming.

It's for a good cause. It's a program that could help people with stroke-damage to their visual cortex regain some vision. I'm trying to help my father out. Initially I was going to make something like this using the video creation software I'm familiar with, but I think a program would be better.

Here is what I need:

A simple program that when executed goes fullscreen and displays a solid bright green background. somewhere on the screen there should be a small black square randomly placed. when the user presses the spacebar (to confirm they've found the square) it should disappear and another random black square should appear somewhere else. pressing escape should close the program. Can be written in any language, so long as I can compile and run it on Windows or Linux.


Thank you so much for looking at this. Any help would be most appreciated.

[LuthfiHakim]

Sounds not too complicated. Just wait a couple minutes (i'm afraid i'm not that experienced to make it in 5 minutes), and I'll give you the program (for Windows).

[maxsideburn]

source code (so that I could compile in Linux also) would be most appreciated.

[LuthfiHakim]

Ok, attached is the program that does what you mentioned. But perhaps I have chosen improper size and shape for the black dot. Let me know if you want to change them.

Attached Files

•  EyeTest.zip   154.52K   23 downloads

[LuthfiHakim]

Nope, no source code. Just in case this is just a homework. :)

So enjoy!

[maxsideburn]

hehe, never thought of that. actually I'm a 29 year old videographer, always meant to learn some programming skills, but I will never have time for it, lol.

thanks a bunch man!

[LuthfiHakim]

Lol, actually it's not a problem to give the source code except for what I mentioned previously. But let's wait a couple days. :)

Anyway, is your idea based on some scientific article or perhaps from conversation with someone with medical background? If it really could help perhaps I could develop better version by learning the reference first.

[maxsideburn]

i will dig up the source link and post it here

[maxsideburn]

here it is:

Computer exercises help restore vision in stroke

this article seems interesting too. perhaps adding some soft music to the program? lol
Music can Restore Vision after Stroke

[maxsideburn]

I replied with a source link but it needs to be approved by a moderator.

I took a look at the program and it's exactly what I was thinking of. Thank you so much, if this really helps my Dad get some of his vision back it'd be amazing.

In the meantime I did have one idea that could possibly help the user.

A way to track progress: Each time the user completes a set of 50 it could show them the time it took to complete those 50. They could write down and log their progress over time.

Hand-eye coordination: Perhaps simply hitting a space bar isn't the optimal thing, I was only thinking about retraining the eyes, but if there is motor damage it may help a lot to have the person actually click on the box when they find it to advance to the next one. This would retrain the brain to not only see on that side, but to co-ordinate with that visual stimuli.

[LuthfiHakim]

Well, I wish you both good luck!

About the new ideas.

Quote

A way to track progress: Each time the user completes a set of 50 it could show them the time it took to complete those 50. They could write down and log their progress over time.

Since the user is having problem with their vision, I think it's hard for them to write down this information. We could store it in the program/db and let the supervisor (perhaps in your case the supervisor is you) analyze it.

Quote

Hand-eye coordination: Perhaps simply hitting a space bar isn't the optimal thing, I was only thinking about retraining the eyes, but if there is motor damage it may help a lot to have the person actually click on the box when they find it to advance to the next one. This would retrain the brain to not only see on that side, but to co-ordinate with that visual stimuli.

Or with a tablet user could just press the the box on the screen, or in system without touchscreen the program could draw random letter instead of boc and ask the user to press the keyboard button for that letter.

Well, nice ideas! If only we could get some real scientific backup on these, and I would love to develop such software.

[maxsideburn]

well I will give the program to my dad this weekend and we will see how it works out. I guess I will get him to time himself with a stopwatch to track progress for now.

thanks for the help man.

if you decide to add any of those features please feel free, either way I will report back (probably in a few months) with some idea on if it's been helping him or not.