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Mouse Smoothing Software
Assistive software for people with hand tremor.
Date Posted: March 9, 2004
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What is Mouse Smoothing Software?
Mouse Smoothing Software is assistive software for people with hand tremor. It is intended primarily for individuals with Essential (non-specific) Hand Tremor who have difficulty using a computer mouse. Significant improvement has been found for people who can basically control their hand, apart from a moderate degree of tremor.
How does it work?
The key element of this software is a device driver program that attaches itself to the regular device driver program used to control the mouse. It intercepts the mouse motion data before it is used by the operating system and applies a low-pass digital filter to smooth out rapid, unwanted motion caused by hand tremor. The smoothed data is then passed along to the operating system, so that any program using the mouse will automatically receive smoothed mouse data. In addition to the device driver, the software includes a control panel program for personalizing the smoothing filter, as well as programs for installing and removing the driver. If the computer has more than one type of mouse connected, one can be left unsmoothed, allowing a user without hand tremor to easily share the computer.
The device driver works under the Windows® 2000 and XP operating systems. Windows 95, 98, and ME are not supported. Some mouse driver software supplied with certain mice does not work with this device driver. Instructions are supplied for identifying this software and disabling it using Window's device manager, a process that requires some care and a modicum of computer expertise.
Mouse Smoothing Software has also become available as a hardware implementation (a microprocessor-based adapter connected between the mouse and the PC) called Assistive Mouse Adapter. It is manufactured and sold by Montrose-Secam, Ltd., under an agreement with IBM.
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| | About the technology author(s):
Jim Levine is a research staff member at IBM's T. J. Watson Research center. His interests include low- and ultra low-temperature physics, gravity wave detection, interactive display technology, and computer accessibility. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Physics.
Mike Schappert is a staff engineer at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center. His interests include embedded processor software development and interactive display technology. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Computer Engineering.
Steve Mastrianni is a senior software engineer at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center. His interests include mobile computing, operating systems, wireless communications, and embedded systems development. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Computer Science.
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