The Unfolding Space Glove: A Wearable Spatio-Visual to Haptic Sensory Substitution Device for Blind People.

Jakob Kilian,Lasse Scherffig,Alexander Neugebauer,Siegfried Wahl

doi:10.3390/s22051859

Abstract

This paper documents the design, implementation and evaluation of the Unfolding Space Glove—an open source sensory substitution device. It transmits the relative position and distance of nearby objects as vibratory stimuli to the back of the hand and thus enables blind people to haptically explore the depth of their surrounding space, assisting with navigation tasks such as object recognition and wayfinding. The prototype requires no external hardware, is highly portable, operates in all lighting conditions, and provides continuous and immediate feedback—all while being visually unobtrusive. Both blind (n = 8) and blindfolded sighted participants (n = 6) completed structured training and obstacle courses with both the prototype and a white long cane to allow performance comparisons to be drawn between them. The subjects quickly learned how to use the glove and successfully completed all of the trials, though still being slower with it than with the cane. Qualitative interviews revealed a high level of usability and user experience. Overall, the results indicate the general processability of spatial information through sensory substitution using haptic, vibrotactile interfaces. Further research would be required to evaluate the prototype’s capabilities after extensive training and to derive a fully functional navigation aid from its features.

Highlights

IntroductionBeing born blind or losing one’s sight later in life involves great challenges
While there are certainly large overlaps between these three aspects, this paper exclusively focuses on the third—navigation
To give an impression of the study procedure, a series of videos was made available in high resolution at https://vimeo.com/channels/unfoldingspace

Summary

Introduction

Being born blind or losing one’s sight later in life involves great challenges. The ability to cope with everyday life independently, to be mobile in unfamiliar places, to absorb information and, as a result, to participate in social, public and economic life can be severely hampered, affecting one’s quality of life [3–6]. Address this issue on many levels, for example by ensuring accessibility of information or by designing public spaces to meet the specific needs of blind individuals or, more generally, visually impaired people (VIPs). Technical aids, devices and apps are constantly being developed to assist VIPs with certain tasks [7,8]. These aids can essentially be divided into three aspects: obtaining information of the surroundings While there are certainly large overlaps between these three aspects, this paper exclusively focuses on the third—navigation

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Conclusion