Surface roughness discrimination with the long cane: Effects of cane tips, handle, shaft rigidity, and swinging speed

Abstract

This study examined the effects of cane tip type, cane tip size, cane shaft rigidity, cane handle material, and cane swing speed on the cane user’s ability to discriminate surfaces of different roughness. A repeated-measures design with block randomization was used for each of the three studies. Blindfolded sighted and visually impaired participants attempted to identify which of the two grooved aluminum plates was rougher by swiping the plates using different cane tips, shafts, handles, and swing speeds. Participants correctly identified the rougher plate at a higher percentage with smaller cane tips (77.6% ± 8.7%) than with larger cane tips (72.1% ± 7.2%), p = .029, r = .54. Pencil tips (76.9% ± 8.4%) were more advantageous than ball tips (72.8% ± 6.5%), p = .028, r = .55. Slower cane swing speed (84.4% ± 2.6%) also allowed the participants to better discriminate the surfaces than faster swing speed (76.6% ± 6.0%), p = .002, r = .80. However, the cane shaft rigidity ( p = .499, r = .22) and cane handle material ( p = .694. w2 = 0.02) did not have a significant effect on the cane user’s ability to discriminate the surfaces of different roughness. Given these findings, a cane user may want to use a smaller and/or cylindrical cane tip as opposed to larger and/or spherical cane tip for better surface texture change detection. In addition, a cane user may not want to swing the cane too wide or walk too fast since wider cane swing and faster walking speed tend to result in faster cane swing speed, which can compromise one’s ability to detect sudden changes in walking surface texture. That being said, an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialist should assess each person’s traveling environment when determining which cane tip and swing speed to use in a given situation.