Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People

Blind and low vision people use visual description services (VDS) to gain visual interpretation and build access in a world that privileges sight. Despite their many benefits, VDS have many harmful privacy and security implications. As a result, researchers are suggesting, exploring, and building obfuscation systems that detect and obscure private or sensitive materials. However, as obfuscation depends largely on sight to interpret outcomes, it is unknown whether Blind and low vision people would find such approaches useful. Our work aims to center the perspectives and opinions of Blind and low vision people on the potential of obfuscation to address privacy concerns in VDS. By reporting on interviews with 20 Blind and low vision people who use VDS, our findings reveal that popular research trends in obfuscation fail to capture the needs of Blind and low vision people. While obfuscation might be helpful in gaining more control, tensions around obfuscation misrecognition and confirmation are prominent. We turn to the framework of interdependence to unpack and understand obfuscation in VDS, enabling us to complicate privacy concerns, uncover the labor of Blind and low vision people, and emphasize the importance of safeguards. We provide design directions to move the trajectory of obfuscation research forward.

Self-service terminals (SSTs) are almost everywhere in our daily life and increasingly use capacitive and infrared touchscreens as the interface. Most of the current solutions to help blind and low vision (BLV) people access existing touchscreens mostly are only suitable for capacitive touchscreens and not for infrared touchscreens. In this paper, we proposed a voice-based interactive method using a conductive folding stand with the phone camera to allow BLV people to access both touchscreens of SSTs. Voice feedback was provided to guide users to move the phone close to the button and touch it with the end of the unfolded stand. Using a portable accessory, this method directly guided users to touch the target and effectively avoids false triggering. A preliminary evaluation indicated that our approach enabled users to access the target buttons on the touchscreen with high accuracy and a short completion time.

Screen readers are audio-based software that Blind and Low Vision (BLV) people use to interact with computing devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Although this technology has significantly improved the accessibility of touchscreen devices, the sequential nature of audio limits the bandwidth of information users can receive and process. We introduce TapNav, an adaptive spatiotactile screen reader prototype developed to interact with touchscreen interfaces spatially. TapNav's screen reader provides adaptive auditory feedback that, in combination with a tactile overlay, conveys spatial information and location of interface elements on-screen. We evaluated TapNav with 12 BLV users who interacted with TapNav to explore a data visualization and interact with a bank transactions application. Our qualitative findings show that touch points and spatially constrained navigation helped users anticipate outcomes for faster exploration, and offload cognitive load to touch. We provide design guidelines for creating tactile overlays for adaptive spatiotactile screen readers and discuss their generalizability beyond our exploratory data analysis and everyday application navigation scenarios.

While our community has many active projects involving blind people, low vision is rarely addressed. People with low vision have functional vision, but their visual impairment adversely affects their daily life and it cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Over the last few years, we have been conducting research with this understudied demographic: understanding low vision people's needs and designing applications to address the challenges they face. In this article, we discuss our ongoing research in this area, focusing on designing augmented reality applications for low vision users. We begin this article by describing low vision and motivating our focus on augmented reality applications on smartglasses for low vision people. We then provide overviews of three research projects that exemplify our research agenda: a study where we observed low vision people conducting a navigation and shopping task, a study where we examined low vision people's perception of virtual text and shapes on smartglasses, and the design of a smartglasses application that facilitates a visual search task.

People with low vision have a visual impairment that affects their ability to perform daily activities. Unlike blind people, low vision people have functional vision and can potentially benefit from smart glasses that provide dynamic, always-available visual information. We sought to determine what low vision people could see on mainstream commercial augmented reality (AR) glasses, despite their visual limitations and the device's constraints. We conducted a study with 20 low vision participants and 18 sighted controls, asking them to identify virtual shapes and text in different sizes, colors, and thicknesses. We also evaluated their ability to see the virtual elements while walking. We found that low vision participants were able to identify basic shapes and read short phrases on the glasses while sitting and walking. Identifying virtual elements had a similar effect on low vision and sighted people's walking speed, slowing it down slightly. Our study yielded preliminary evidence that mainstream AR glasses can be powerful accessibility tools. We derive guidelines for presenting visual output for low vision people and discuss opportunities for accessibility applications on this platform.

Low vision people who are more than 88% of visually impaired people want to use their residual vision and don't want to look like disabled. However, many assistive devices for low vision are suitable for use indoors and people with disabled are exposed using assistive device so that they are reluctant to use that. So, many low vision people want to use smart phone to solve problem but now functions of smartphone are not enough. In this study, we want to suggest smart assistive software and device for low vision people to use with residual vision as much as possible without being self-conscious. For that, we interviewed expert of low vision and low vision people with qualitative research methods. Based on the results, we present solution and suggest EYESEE, assistive device and application for low vision people.

While being able to read with screen magnifiers, low vision people have slow and unpleasant reading experiences. Eye tracking has the potential to improve their experience by recognizing fine-grained gaze behaviors and providing more targeted enhancements. To inspire gaze-based low vision technology, we investigate the suitable method to collect low vision users’ gaze data via commercial eye trackers and thoroughly explore their challenges in reading based on their gaze behaviors. With an improved calibration interface, we collected the gaze data of 20 low vision participants and 20 sighted controls who performed reading tasks on a computer screen; low vision participants were also asked to read with different screen magnifiers. We found that, with an accessible calibration interface and data collection method, commercial eye trackers can collect gaze data of comparable quality from low vision and sighted people. Our study identified low vision people’s unique gaze patterns during reading, building upon which, we propose design implications for gaze-based low vision technology.

Blind and low-vision (BLV) people experience difficulty accessing graphical information, particularly regarding travel and education. Tactile diagrams and 3D printed models can improve access to graphical information for BLV people; however, these formats only allow limited detailed and contextual information. Interactive 3D printed models (I3Ms) exist, but many rely on passive audio labels that don't particularly empower BLV people in independent knowledge building and interpretation. This project investigates the creation of I3Ms that offer more engaging experiences with a focus on facilitating independent exploration and knowledge discovery. Specifically, this project explores how BLV people want to interact with I3Ms, interactive functionalities and behaviours that I3Ms should support, such as conversational interfaces and model agency, and to understand the relationship between I3Ms and conventional accessible graphics.

Low vision is a visual impairment that cannot be corrected with eyeglasses or contact lenses. Low vision people have functional vision and prefer using that vision instead of relying on audition and touch. Existing approaches to low vision accessibility enhance people's vision using simple "signal-to-signal" techniques that do not take into account the user's context. There is thus a major gap between low vision people's needs and existing low vision technologies. My doctorial research aims to address this gap by augmenting low vision people's visual experience with direct and optimal visual feedback based on the user's context. I will design and study novel methods for visual augmentation , which involves visual feedback beyond simple enhancements. My research considers two dimensions: visual condition and task. By understanding the visual perception of people with different visual abilities and exploring their needs in different visual tasks, I will design applications with visual feedback that is optimal for specific context to maximize people's access to information. My research will yield design insights and novel applications for people with all visual abilities.

The blind or low vision people should exercise, in equal conditions, the rights and duties, which assure them the citizenship. To do this, they can use differentiated resources, that facilitate or promote the development of functional skills and, consequently, the social inclusion, between which stand out the Assistive Technologies (TA). Thus, this article presents the results of a literature review from the years 2007 to 2015, which aimed to analyze which are the TA that can be used by blind or low vision people in the social context, and how they influence in the inclusion. The methodology used was a bibliographical and documentary research about TA, blindness and low vision, realized in the virtual library Scielo and in the Portal Periodicos CAPES. It was selected brazilian articles that mentioned the theme, which were, later, analyzed and categorized, according common elements perceived, and served as a basis for the considerations and discussions presented here. It was mainly perceived, that the resources in question are used in different social contexts and with varied purposes, and that they allow greater independence for the users. The final considerations pointed to the importance of the TA study related withblindness or low vision people, to the awareness of society against prejudice, and to the implementation of public policies to support the use of these resources with the public in question.

Visual impairments encompass a range of visual abilities. People with low vision have functional vision and thus their experiences are likely to be different from people with no vision. We sought to answer two research questions: (1) what challenges do low vision people face when performing daily activities and (2) what aids (high- and low-tech) do low vision people use to alleviate these challenges? Our goal was to reveal gaps in current technologies that can be addressed by the UbiComp community. Using contextual inquiry, we observed 11 low vision people perform a wayfinding and shopping task in an unfamiliar environment. The task involved wayfinding and searching and purchasing a product. We found that, although there are low vision aids on the market, participants mostly used their smartphones, despite interface accessibility challenges. While smartphones helped them outdoors, participants were overwhelmed and frustrated when shopping in a store. We discuss the inadequacies of existing aids and highlight the need for systems that enhance visual information, rather than convert it to audio or tactile.

The research sets to address the challenge of negotiating surface discontinuities by the blind and low vision people along the urban pathway using technology. The central question of this research is: “How can a technology assist the blind and low vision people to negotiate surface discontinuities along their navigational pathway?”. Based on a design science methodology, a lightweight, small and unobtrusive prototype of a wearable technology-based system was proposed.

For comprehensively participating in society, independent and safe mobility is an important skill for many daily activities. Spatial cognition is one of the most important human capabilities and addresses the acquisition, processing and utilization of knowledge about the spatial layout of environments. Humans predominantly use the visual sense for this and for blind and low vision people, the lack of spatial perception reduces their quality of life and their ability of independent living. In particular the spatial navigation in unknown environments imposes challenges, since there is no possibility to train navigation tasks in advance. Today, blind and visually impaired people still rely on traditional navigation aids such as a cane for micro-navigation, which - however - does not help for developing orientation at larger scale or for planning of routes. To overcome this problem, this paper introduces the concept of a virtual environment that allows experiencing unknown locations by real walking while still staying in a sage controlled environment. Since this virtual environment can be controlled in its complexity, it can be adjusted from an abstract training scenario to a real-life situation such as train stations or airports.

Scholars have recently drawn attention to a range of controversial issues posed by the use of computer vision for automatically generating descriptions of people in images. Despite these concerns, automated image description has become an important tool to ensure equitable access to information for blind and low vision people. In this paper, we investigate the ethical dilemmas faced by companies that have adopted the use of computer vision for producing alt text: textual descriptions of images for blind and low vision people. We use Facebook's automatic alt text tool as our primary case study. First, we analyze the policies that Facebook has adopted with respect to identity categories, such as race, gender, age, etc., and the company's decisions about whether to present these terms in alt text. We then describe an alternative---and manual---approach practiced in the museum community, focusing on how museums determine what to include in alt text descriptions of cultural artifacts. We compare these policies, using notable points of contrast to develop an analytic framework that characterizes the particular apprehensions behind these policy choices. We conclude by considering two strategies that seem to sidestep some of these concerns, finding that there are no easy ways to avoid the normative dilemmas posed by the use of computer vision to automate alt text.

This article introduces the “Mobile Bio-Eye-Tronic System” which is an artificial vision system for the impaired (blind) people and also low vision (sight loss) people. “Mobile Bio-Eye-Tronic System” is a completely original project and unique to the author of this article. There are 45 million visually impaired (blind) people in the world and 135 million low vision (sight loss) people. 60% of blindness in the world is treatable and 20% is preventable. 25 million people are blind in Europe, 12 million in America, 9 million in India, 6 million in China, and 7 million in Africa. In Turkey, this number is approximately 300 thousand. Based on these statistics, the main aim of this article is to appeal to hundreds of thousands of people, to help them fulfill their daily activities, even partially, to improve the quality of life of these visually impaired people and to restore their health. In addition, the scientific and technical studies to be carried out on this subject will contribute to the enrichment of the literature on the subject and will also be beneficial for scientific and technical progress. When the current studies on bionic eyes are examined, there is no other system in the literature that obtains results using a mobile phone camera and software. The bionic eye stated in this article will be a first in this respect. [1-29]