AI-Enabled Image Description: Bridging the Gap for the Visually Impaired

The visually impaired individuals are forced to struggle to read pictorial information such as pictures, objects and the surrounding environment and hence limit the degree of self-reliance and access to internet information. Within the framework of this paper, the authors propose to use an AI-based image description system that may generate meaningful textual descriptions of pictures automatically and helps blind people to have a better perception of visual worlds and online media. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are applied to extract visual features and process the discovered visuals through sequence-based NLP models to produce captions that can be understood by human beings. The output of the descriptive generated texts is then converted into a speech by the text-to-speech software that provides real-time and hands-free assistance by way of a web or mobile interface. This system aims at improving the quality of life, situational awareness and accessibility of the visually impaired persons.