Abstract
Development of devices for the visually impaired people equipped with a vibrating interface was the motivation of the research presented in the paper. Knowledge about discriminative ability of touch is crucial when designing devices which use tactile interfaces. The paper presents results of psychophysical studies on determining the vibrotactile frequency discrimination threshold on the wrist of blind and partially sighted people. The transformed adaptive method 1 up/2 down was used in the presented research. Thresholds were obtained on the ventral wrist at 5 frequencies: 25, 31.5, 63, 125 and 250 Hz. Results were examined to find factors which could influence the threshold value. Additionally, the guidelines for devices with vibrating interfaces supporting spatial orientation of the blind and partially sighted people was developed based on results and analysis
Highlights
According to last World report on vision prepared by World Health Organization [1] at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness
The measurements were carried out using the adaptive method 1 up/2 down on a measuring stand designed for testing vibrotactile discrimination thresholds
The main purpose of the results analysis was to check if the values of vibrotactile frequency discrimination thresholds for blind people differ from those for people with normal sight
Summary
According to last World report on vision prepared by World Health Organization [1] at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness. The development of devices supporting people with sight disabilities is very important. Such devices should use vibration interfaces and leave user’s hands free because of the role of touch in movement, and for practical reasons [3]. Designing such a device – a vibrating bracelet – became the inspiration for the research presented in the paper. The starting point of the described tests was results of measurements of absolute vibration thresholds on the proximal phalange and ventral wrist [4, 5]. The measurements were carried out using the adaptive method 1 up/2 down on a measuring stand designed for testing vibrotactile discrimination thresholds
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