Audio-Tactile Reader (ATR): Interaction Concepts for Students with Blindness to Explore Digital STEM Documents on a 2D Haptic Device

Abstact Blind students with disabilities not only experience obstacles in the visual process but also have problems in the lecture process and social life including problems of accessibility, social relations, communication, difficulties in the lecture process and the views of the surrounding community. This affects the psychological condition of individuals, especially female students, this happens because women have genetic susceptibility, significant hormonal changes, a tendency to overthink things, and socio-cultural pressure. Alignment between the study process and self-acceptance with limited vision is the main goal that is continuously maintained and achieved by blind students, coupled with various pressures and problems in completing education, will be a challenge and pressure for students with visual impairments that can affect the subjective well-being of individuals ( Subjective Well Being). The purpose of this article is to determine the Subjective Well Being in blind female students and the factors that influence Subjective Well Being in blind female students. The method used is descriptive qualitative case study method. Participants in this study were three blind female students with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews and observations. The results showed that students with visual impairment have a Subjective Well Being in terms of dimensions of self-acceptance, life goals, self-growth, autonomy, environmental control, and positive relationships with others.Keywords: Subjective Well Being, Disabilities, Blind students

Individuals with dual sensory impairment (DSI) often have reduced independence in their daily activities. Vision impairment is consistently reported to play a more dominant role than hearing impairment on home-based daily living, while little is known regarding the relative impact of vision and hearing impairments on tasks such as independent travel that require interacting with more complex environments. To address this knowledge gap, we administered a semistructured survey in a convenience sample of 161 individuals with normal vision, low vision, or blindness, with or without hearing impairment. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to analyze the data. Compared to normal vision, low vision and blind participants were significantly less likely to be frequent travelers. Low vision participants reported that vision impairment had a greater impact than hearing impairment on their travel independence, while blind participants reported hearing impairment to have a greater impact than blindness on their travel independence. The unique challenges in blind individuals were highlighted by their concerns on localizing dynamic sounds such as traffic during travel. Seventy percent of the hearing-impaired participants wore hearing aids and reported high utility for speech perception, but there was a significant reduction in the utility of hearing aids for sound localization especially for the blind participants. Our results reveal the interaction between vision and hearing impairments on independent travel and emphasize the need for an integrated rehabilitation approach for this population.

This study aims to design specialized instructional media for college students with hearing and visual impairments, supporting their unique learning needs. This study used a qualitative single-case study approach to thoroughly investigate the experiences of deaf and blind college students, with a focus on instructional modules and videos. The research subject is college students with hearing and visual impairments, specifically examining their higher education experiences and identifying specific requirements for effective learning. This research instrument uses surveys, interviews, and analysis of instructional modules and videos to gather comprehensive data on the challenges and needs of deaf and blind college students. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns, themes, and insights related to the higher education experiences of students with hearing and visual impairments. The results of this study indicate that the design and implementation of specialized instructional media with tailored features significantly contribute to addressing the unique challenges faced by deaf and blind college students. This approach fosters inclusivity and equity, providing valuable insights for creating more effective and accessible online learning materials in higher education.

Visually impaired individuals often rely on assistive technologies such as white canes for independent navigation. Many electronic enhancements to the traditional white cane have been proposed. However, only a few of these proof-of-concept technologies have been tested with authentic users, as most studies rely on blindfolded non-visually impaired participants or no testing with participants at all. Experiments involving blind users are usually not contrasted with the traditional white cane. This study set out to compare an ultrasound-based electronic cane with a traditional white cane. Moreover, we also compared the performance of a group of visually impaired participants (N = 10) with a group of blindfolded participants without visual impairments (N = 31). The results show that walking speed with the electronic cane is significantly slower compared to the traditional white cane. Moreover, the results show that the performance of the participants without visual impairments is significantly slower than for the visually impaired participants. No significant differences in obstacle detection rates were observed across participant groups and device types for obstacles on the ground, while 79% of the hanging obstacles were detected by the electronic cane. The results of this study thus suggest that electronic canes present only one advantage over the traditional cane, namely in its ability to detect hanging obstacles, at least without prolonged practice. Next, blindfolded participants are insufficient substitutes for blind participants who are expert cane users. The implication of this study is that research into digital white cane enhancements should include blind participants. These participants should be followed over time in longitudinal experiments to document if practice will lead to improvements that surpass the performance achieved with traditional canes.

<p style="text-align: justify;">The purpose of this study was to determine the level of motor abilities development in blind students and students without visual impairments, as well as to examine whether there are differences in motor abilities development between these two groups of participants. The research included 22 blind student (11 girls and 11 boys) and 22 students without visual impairments, aged 11-17 years. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) was used to assess motor abilities. The analysis of the results revealed that the motor abilities development of blind students was significantly below average, while students without visual impairments showed an average level of motor abilities development. When comparing the achievements of blind students and students without visual impairments, it was observed that blind students had poorer performance on both the overall motor test and the subtests of bilateral coordination, upper limb coordination, and balance. On the other hand, students without visual impairments achieved good results on all tested subtests.</p>

Particle-interception properties of high porous metal filter elements for fail-safe function

Preparation of high porous metal filter element for the fail-safety function

Comment on: The Impact of COVID-19 on Individuals Across the Spectrum of Visual Impairment

This study aims to describe the academic engagement of blind students at Universitas Airlangga. Airlangga University which has strived to become a disability-friendly campus by providing special facilities. The method used in this research is qualitative with a case study approach. Respondents in this study were blind students at Airlangga University who had academic and non-academic achievements. The results of the study show that the description of academic engagement of students with visual impairments at Universitas Airlangga consists of three aspects; 1) vigor is characterized by a sense of enthusiasm and enthusiasm in doing assignments, discussing, and trying new things; 2) absorption is marked by focusing on academic activities based on one's own initiative; 3) dedication is marked by his enthusiasm to inspire others not only domestically but also abroad, also being involved in activities related to his lectures, feeling satisfied and proud of his decision to study in that department. Their limitations do not become an obstacle for blind students to be involved in lectures.

Blind students exclusively use braille materials for teaching math. Teaching tools that assist blind students' motor and hearing nerves are essential for learning. This study was to describe learning mathematics outcomes for blind students after using teaching material for Android devices based on Newman's theory. This research was a case study of blind students. Blind junior high school students from special schools for visual impairment—extraordinary schools in Bandar Lampung, extraordinary schools in Cimahi, and Madrasah Tsanawiyah with special education in Yogyakarta—contributed to the study's subjects. The study employed questionnaires and test questions as research instruments for both teachers and students. The results of this study demonstrate that learning mathematics outcame blind students' after using teaching material with Android apps based on Newman's theory, specifically: i) reading errors: students can understand the information in the questions; ii) comprehension errors: students do not write down things that are known and asked; and iii) transformation errors: students write down the mathematical model (formula) used; iv) skill errors: students can do calculations correctly; and v) coding errors: students do not write conclusions. The average score of the blind students’ results using braille was higher than that of the Android application.

Navigating around a university campus can be difficult for visitors and incoming students/staff, and is a particular challenge for vision-impaired students and staff. University College Cork (UCC), like most other universities and similar institutions worldwide, relies mainly on sign-posts and maps (available from the college website) to direct students and visitors around campus. However, these are not appropriate for vision-impaired users. UCC's Disability Support Service provides mobility training to enable blind and vision-impaired students and staff to safely and independently navigate around the campus. This training is time-consuming for all parties and is costly to provide. It is also route-specific: for example, if a blind student who has already received mobility training is required to attend lectures in a building they have not previously visited, they may require further training on the new route. It is not feasible to provide this kind of training for blind/visually-impaired visitors. A potential solution to these problems is to provide navigation data using wireless and mobile technology. Ideally this should be done using technologies that are (or will shortly be) widely supported on smart-phones, thus ensuring that the system is accessible to one-time visitors as well as regular users. A study was conducted in order to identify user-requirements. It was concluded that there is no off-the-shelf system that fully meets UCC's requirements. Most of the candidates fall short either in terms of the accuracy or reliability of the localization information provided, ability to operate both indoors and outdoors, or in the nature of the feedback provided. In the light of these findings, a prototype system has been developed for use on the UCC campus. This paper describes the development of the system and ongoing user-testing to assess the viability of the interface for use by vision-impaired people.

Contribution: This article presents the design, creation, testing, and results after the use of a 3-D-printed educational tool that helped a blind student learning electric circuits theory in higher education. Background: Educational tools oriented to visually impaired and blind students in higher education are limited or even nonexistent in the STEM area. Previous developments on the field present in the literature, including other 3-D printing solutions, have been revised and compared to the proposed educational tool. Intended Outcomes: The tool was tested by a blind student in order to test the potential of the design to achieve a better understanding of the topology and performance of electric circuits. The main purpose of the tool described in this work is helping to increase the resources available in the field of teaching students with visual impairments. Application Design: 3-D technology has the potential to be used to create accessibility tools for visually impaired and blind individuals. Modular systems can be used to create complex structures using simple elements. A modular 3-D-printed tool was fabricated to help blind and visually impaired students to learn net structures. Findings: The 3-D tool has allowed the blind student to work autonomously in the study of simple electric circuits and supplies the teacher with a resource to communicate with the student in an easy and fast way. Updated design can be used to describe more complex net structures that can be applied to most electric circuits despite their complexity. The use of the modular system provided the blind student with a direct representation of the whole subject, even when it involved a great amount of graphical information and manipulation.

The possibility to use the Dirt Alert diagnostic layer to diagnose PS-90A engines equipped with QA-07930-01 filter elements by Pall Corporation is shown. Division of Dirt Alert diagnostic layer into parts according to their height allows to get wash samples and to make diagnostics of PS-90A engine without disassembly and replacement of main filter element before completion of its mission. Device and ultrasound methodology of wear debris particles extraction from diagnostic layer are developed. It is determined that wash sample presentability is provided by single passage of diagnostic layer in tape drive during 20 minutes. The possibility to use a statistical model of operational PS-90A engine equipped with the filter element without diagnostic layer that had been previously developed basing on wash sample analysis in order to make a diagnostic decision on PS-90A engines equipped with QA-07930-01 filter element is considered. In this model, wear debris particles ratings are used as diagnostic parameters. It is shown that parameters of wash sample wear debris particles extracted from diagnostic layer of QA-07930-01 filter element do not differ from QA-07930 filter element wash sample particles parameters. It means that PS-90A engine equipped with QA-07930-01 filter element technical state evaluation is possible with use of the statistical model of operational PS-90A engine equipped with the filter element without diagnostic layer developed basing on scintillation analysis of wash sample taken from QA-07930 filter element. The conclusion is made that perspective direction to get express and reliable results of technical state evaluation for PS-90A engine lubrication system is to equip engines of this type with QA-07930-01-type filter element.

Tactile patterns are a means to convey navigation instructions to pedestrians and are especially helpful for people with visual impairments. This article presents a concept to provide precise micro-navigation instructions through a tactile around-the-head display. Our system presents four tactile patterns for fundamental navigation instructions in conjunction with continuous directional guidance. We followed an iterative, user-centric approach to design the patterns for the fundamental navigation instructions, combined them with a continuous directional guidance stimulus, and tested our system with 13 sighted (blindfolded) and 2 blind participants in an obstacle course, including stairs. We optimized the patterns and validated the final prototype with another five blind participants in a follow-up study. The system steered our participants successfully with a 5.7 cm average absolute deviation from the optimal path. Our guidance is only a little less precise than the usual shoulder wobbling during normal walking and an order of magnitude more precise than previous tactile navigation systems. Our system allows various new use cases of micro-navigation for people with visual impairments, e.g., preventing collisions on a sidewalk or as an anti-veering tool. It also has applications in other areas, such as personnel working in low-vision environments (e.g., firefighters).

Factors associated with vision-related quality of life among the adult population living in Nagorno Karabagh