視覚障害児専用の白杖の開発と評価

Abstract

The long cane has been the most widely used mobility aid for the visually impaired people in spite of many other aid systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate canes that are currently being used at the special needs education school for the visually impaired and to produce new long canes experimentally and evaluate it for visually impaired children. An 8-item-questionnaire was developed and distributed to 71 all the Japanese special needs education schools for the visually impaired. 83.1% subjects who received the questionnaire completed it properly. The new types of the long cane were assessed for their ability to transmit the vibration and their sensitivity to tactile information, flexibility, and durability. The materials that are used in new long cane shafts were carbon fiber, aluminum and composite material of carbon fiber and aluminum at three kinds of the most commonly used materials. The tips that are used in new long cane were standard (pencil), marshmallow, and teardrop at the types of three categories. According to questionnaire results, the visually impaired children tend to use a straight cane, and a rubber golf grip standard-type cane tip in the special needs education school for the visually impaired, even though there are many kinds of cane tips. In these experiments of the new long cane, it was found that the lightweight canes, the regulating mechanism of cane's lengths and the combination of tips and grip might be associated with a visually impaired children's performance.