Blind Users Research Articles

Are electronic white canes better than traditional canes? A comparative study with blind and blindfolded participants

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.

Understanding m-learning experiences for blind students

When designing educational technologies for blind people, we need to consider technological and pedagogical strands. From the pedagogical point of view, m-learning has the potential to benefit blind students. Regarding the technological aspect, m-learning is an appropriate approach for blind students. Motivated by the adequacy of m-learning and the scarcity of works involving m-learning experiences for blind students, we present an exploratory study to uncover important information when blind users interact with mobile applications, focusing on the educational and technological perspectives. We investigated the interactions of nine blind users with mobile devices to unveil their technology-related singularities in the educational context. Based on the familiarity of blind users, some interaction design patterns have proven to be easy to use after conducting a usability and user experience test on a prototype. The results also highlighted the relevance of educational mobile applications to provide greater independence to blind users. This paper contributes towards improving the current awareness of the accessibility aspect of m-learning collaborative tools, and reveals the aspects of interactions and needs of blind students.

An Audio-Based 3D Spatial Guidance AR System for Blind Users.

Augmented reality (AR) has great potential for blind users because it enables a range of applications that provide audio information about specific locations or directions in the user's environment. For instance, the CamIO ("Camera Input-Output") AR app makes physical objects (such as documents, maps, devices and 3D models) accessible to blind and visually impaired persons by providing real-time audio feedback in response to the location on an object that the user is touching (using an inexpensive stylus). An important feature needed by blind users of AR apps such as CamIO is a 3D spatial guidance feature that provides real-time audio feedback to help the user find a desired location on an object. We have devised a simple audio interface to provide verbal guidance towards a target of interest in 3D. The experiment we report with blind participants using this guidance interface demonstrates the feasibility of the approach and its benefit for helping users find locations of interest.

Human tracking control system using Kinect sensors on wheelchair based on Arduino

Many people with disabilities who do not get the opportunity to work or the same rights as non-disabled people give encouragement to conduct research to help persons with disabilities. Currently there are several types of research and development on mind wave wheelchairs, but the developed wheelchair has limitations for blind users. Most of the wheelchairs require the user to see the surrounding area in order to move the wheelchair. Therefore, it is not optimal for disabled people who are also visually impaired. To help blind people with disabilities, a wheelchair system with human tracking control capabilities need to be developed. In this study, a prototype of a wheelchair system was developed using Kinect Xbox 360 sensor to read motion data which will then be processed on a mini PC before being sent to an Arduino pro micro based main control to drive the DC motor and track the wheelchair. The prototype has been tested by conducting start and stop maneuver. The results show that the wheelchair prototype has an average success rate for conducting a start maneuver of 87.50% and the average success rate for being able to stop after carrying out a maneuver of 85.83%. In the future the wheelchair is expected to be used by persons with multiple disabilities, namely those who are blind who cannot use an electric wheelchair with mind wave control to help with their daily mobility.

Blind Leading the Sighted

Voice-activated personal assistants (VAPAs) are becoming smaller, cheaper, and more accurate, such that they are now prevalent in homes (e.g., Amazon Echo, Sonos One) and on mobile devices (e.g., Google Assistant, Apple Siri) around the world. VAPAs offer considerable potential to individuals who are blind, offering efficiencies over gesture-based input on touchscreen devices. However, research is just beginning to reveal the ways in which these technologies are used by people who are blind. In the first of two studies, we interviewed 14 blind adults with experience of home and/or mobile-based VAPAs, surfacing myriad accessibility, usability, and privacy issues for this community. A second study analyzing podcast content from 28 episodes relating to blind interactions with VAPAs was then undertaken to validate and extend findings from the first study. In addition to verifying prior findings, we learned that blind users wanted to leverage VAPAs for more productivity-oriented tasks and increased efficiency over other interaction modalities. We conclude that (1) VAPAs need to support a greater variety of AI personas, each specializing in a specific type of task; (2) VAPAs need to maintain continuity of voice interaction for both usability and accessibility; and (3) blind VAPA users, and especially blind technology podcasters, are expert voice interface users who should be incorporated into design processes from the beginning. We argue that when the blind lead the sighted through voice interface design, both blind and sighted users can benefit.

Métodos y técnicas para la construcción de símbolos táctiles hacia una Cartografía Inclusiva

Este artículo presenta una reflexión sobre la experiencia de varios años de los autores con relación a la producción de representaciones gráficas táctiles, con énfasis en la generación de los símbolos (lineales, arenales y puntuales) empleados para representar informaciones geocartográficas. Se presentarán los símbolos que ya están estandarizados, así como las metodologías utilizadas para su definición y construcción. Aprovechando como ejemplo la simbología de algunos mapas táctiles turísticos serán discutidas las características necesarias para que los signos sean comprendidos por los usuarios, principalmente los que tienen deficiencia visual.Un producto cartográfico táctil permite al discapacitado visual acceder a la información y el conocimiento geográfico por medio de los símbolos táctiles y la escritura Braille que acompaña cada uno de los productos cartográficos. Este tipo de cartografía táctil permite representar la información de una forma adecuada y entendible para el usuario ciego, lo cual implica utilizar símbolos táctiles cuidadosamente diseñados lo que permitirá reconocer y generar una imagen mental del área geográfica representada.Es importante señalar, que la adecuada instrucción en la lectura táctil, en el lenguaje Braille y el conocimiento previo de la variable geográfica representada que tenga la persona ciega, le facilitará extraer información de un mapa táctil, de un gráfico o de imágenes en relieve.

The Semantics in GPS Based Mobile Applications for Blind Users Navigation Outdoor

This research is a study on improving information facilitated by common GPS based mobile application for navigation especially by the blind users. For a blind person, the main source of information is words and how to improve the effectiveness of the explanation using mobile application for them is tested in this research. The long term goal of technology is to create a movable, self-contained system that allows visually impaired people to navigate through unfamiliar environments without the assistance of guides The experiment for the research took place at MFB (Malaysian Foundation for the Blind) using existing GPS based mobile applications and the results were used to prove the hypothesis that the blind are at a considerable downside because of the absence of information and providing a detailed description of the environment could be used in the GPS navigation applications for the blind pedestrians to help them navigate independently and it would enable them to take up GPS for independent navigation in unknown environment. The information derived from the research could further help in creating and improving the semantics of the GPS based navigation technology for the blind pedestrians in an unknown environment.

Classification of Blind Users' Image Exploratory Behaviors Using Spiking Neural Networks.

Individuals who are blind adopt multiple procedures to tactually explore images. Automatically recognizing and classifying users' exploration behaviors is the first step towards the development of an intelligent system that could assist users to explore images more efficiently. In this paper, a computational framework was developed to classify different procedures used by blind users during image exploration. Translation-, rotation- and scale-invariant features were extracted from the trajectories of users' movements. These features were divided as numerical and logical features and were fed into neural networks. More specifically, we trained spiking neural networks (SNNs) to further encode the numerical features as model strings. The proposed framework employed a distance-based classification scheme to determine the final class/label of the exploratory procedures. Dempster-Shafter Theory (DST) was applied to integrate the distances obtained from all the features. Through the experiments of different dynamics of spiking neurons, the proposed framework achieved a good performance with 95.89% classification accuracy. It is extremely effective in encoding and classifying spatio-temporal data, as compared to Dynamic Time Warping and Hidden Markov Model with 61.30% and 28.70% accuracy. The proposed framework serves as the fundamental block for the development of intelligent interfaces, enhancing the image exploration experience for the blind.

Video streaming application design for color blind users

Nowadays Video Streaming application becomes more popular in the word. Unfortunately, there is still few Video Streaming application that Color Blind Users friendly. The Color Blind Users can not enjoy Video Streaming application due to limitation color they can see. The purpose of this study is to investigate the design of Video Streaming application for Color Blind Users, so that it is expected that the Video Streaming application design can provide the same experience for users when using online video streaming web. The descriptive analysis was used as the method to analyze the research data. Interview with the Color Blind Users was conducted to sharpen the data analysis. The results of the research indicated that the design of Video Streaming application should be made in specific color. There are some color can be seen clearer by the Color Blind Users compare to the other colors. The result of the research contribute literature for building Video Streaming application in the right design to make the blind more convenient to play game approaching the normal situation.

Effective Shopping Method for Visually Impaired People using Optical Character Recognition

Visual impairment persons are not able to do all works as normal persons especially during purchasing products in supermarket. To help the blind peoples recognise the objects a text reading method is proposed along with the help of camera. A motion detection method is used to detect the presence of the object. The audio instructions about all the objects and their location in supermarket are notified to the blind user that helps them to move freely inside the supermarket. The proposed system aims to make more convenient for the blind persons to purchase in a sophisticated environment. This system also provides easy shopping, consumers time is saved, etc. The implementation of proposed system is done using artificial intelligence and OCR technology. General Terms Visually impaired people, smart shopping, OCR.

Sensitive interfaces for blind people in virtual visits inside unknown spaces

Abstract Virtual reality applications with sensitive interfaces for blind users were developed and tested on smart mobiles running Android as operating system with the participation of twenty blind adults; each application was built with a cognitive interface and a combination of three sensitive interfaces (voice, beeps and gestures) to allow the user to explore the inside of a virtual scenario beforehand. The vibration was an extra, fixed sensitive interface that informed the user that the avatar was walking through the virtual world. The combination of different interfaces within the applications allowed to (1) provide multisensory information to the user while exploring an unknown virtual scenario, (2) build a model of the space in which the user is located and (3) successfully perform tasks in the real world. This research compared different patterns for each interface: 3 for voice, 3 for the beep and 4 for gestures, during the exploration of an unknown space, with the goal of determining which ones were the most efficient and effective at detecting, identifying and locating structures and objects in an unfamiliar environment, aiding blind users to develop a cognitive map of the explored place and successfully perform tasks within the real scenario. Evidence shows that the voice interface provides a statistically significant difference on effectiveness, efficiency, and cognitive mapping compared to other interfaces. Most decisively, pairwise comparisons have shown that, when compared to a normal speech rate, a speech rate 2 times faster manifested an improvement of 5.9% on object and structures detection, a reduction on exploration time of 39.72%, an improvement of 6% on quality of cognitive map development and greater success in carrying out the absolute tasks. The beep interface with 500 Hz frequency and 100 milliseconds spacing provided a statistically significant difference for cognitive mapping, showing an improvement of 8.9%. Finally, in the context of gesture interfaces, a single touch plus vertical swiping, produced statistically significant differences in the reduction of discovery time by 34.28%.

Interactive sonification of images in serious games as an education aid for visually impaired children

AbstractThe paper presents an application for interactive sonification of images intended for use on mobile devices in education of blind children at elementary school level. The paper proposes novel sonification algorithms for converting colour and grayscale images into sound. The blind user can interactively explore image content through multi‐touch gestures and select image sub‐regions for sonification with real‐time control of the synthesized sound parameters such as amplitude, frequency and timbre. Additionally, images may contain text fields read by text‐to‐speech synthesizer. The usability of one of the proposed sonification schemes is tested by collecting data on the tracking accuracy and recognition speed of basic shapes, such as lines, curves, as well as figures and simple functions. In order to facilitate the learning process for blind children, a number of games were proposed that use the devised sonification schemes. The first game—“Hear the Invisible”—is intended for two players—one child draws a shape and the task of the other one is to guess the displayed shape by means of the available sonification methods. The second proposed game is “Follow the Rabbit” and is intended for a single player who tracks a colourful “Rabbit” that runs along a path representing a given geometric shape. The obtained results show that the proposed sonification methods allow to reach previously unattainable levels of flexibility in exploration of shapes and colours. The main application of the described interactive tool is to teach geometry and mathematics in schools for blind children. The developed games are meant to enhance the learning process and motivate the children. Practitioner NotesWhat is known about the topic Sonification is a generic term for data‐based non‐speech sound generation. Interactive sonification is a relatively fresh area of study, where the listener heavily influences the process of sound synthesis. Earlier studies on sonification and educational computer games have shown that it is possible to demonstrate shapes such as plots and geometry using only non‐verbal sounds. What the paper adds The paper proposes an interactive sonification algorithm that can be used on greyscale or colour images using additive synthesis and the HSV colour representation. The presented software also allows to record and analyse user interaction with the images, making it a good research tool for current and future sonification algorithms. The paper presents a pilot study with blind children using two games that improve the learning process of the proposed algorithms. Implications for practice and/or policy Once the software is openly released it can be easily installed on any Android OS device to allow blind users to analyse images by touch. The proposed games train the users the basics of the sonification algorithm in a competitive context. The software can be especially useful in education of blind children, eg, in teaching geometry, math and in training visual and spatial imagination.

Automatic tactile thematic map generation: research agenda and possible solutions

Abstract. A lot has been done regarding automatic generation of topographic maps within National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) and there are examples of successful implementations of such projects. The main issue related to automatic map production is cartographic generalization. It is mainly used for transforming the original spatial dataset into maps of smaller scale. Everyone, who has ever worked on map generalization knows, how laborious and time-consuming this process is. This is why a lot of effort is being put to automate it. Automatic map production is very difficult but it gets even more complicated if we consider automatic production of tactile maps – maps that are being read with sense of touch and, to a limited extent, also with eyes.In an average, a man without visual impairment is capable of distinguishing two points as separate if they are, according to different sources, 0.2–0.3 millimetres apart from each other. If one would like to achieve the same but using sense of touch, a distance of 2.4–3.0 millimetres is necessary. This is enough to show how intense the generalization process has to be while transforming scales of tactile maps. It also brings up a question: ‘What are the algorithms and solutions for tactile spatial data generalization and to what extent can this process be automated?’. The answer to this question is the main point of the research presented here.During the presentation, the results of a systematic literature review on this topic basing on the primary studies from the last decade, will be presented. Automatic map generation is nothing new but this field of research lacks a systematic review, which would summarize existing literature. This review, although about automatic map generation in general, focuses on tactile maps. Therefore, the answers to the following questions will be presented:What are the generalization methods and models for automatic (tactile) map generation?What are the existing systems and solutions allowing automatic (tactile) map generation?How to properly design spatial database for automatic map generation?Presented research will form a significant part of Jakub Wabiński PhD dissertation, which main goal is to create a methodology that would allow blind users to create on-demand thematic maps with different level of detail and scales, out of publicly available spatial data. Due to the fact that in European Union there is the INSPIRE Directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community), which requires member countries to provide their citizens with current spatial data, but also aims to define common standards of describing and sharing spatial data – it is possible to create universal methodology for the whole European Union. The problem is that these data have to be first adapted for use by blind and visually impaired people.There is high demand on tactile maps and atlases but unfortunately their production is very expensive. Not all the schools for blind and visually impaired can afford to buy them (not to mention individual people). Traditional tactile maps production methods, such as ‘thermoforming’, are cost effective only in the case of production in a large scale. Pretty often individual map sheets are required to present a certain phenomenon. Fortunately, there are cheap and efficient alternatives – namely 3D printing or swell-paper, which can be used at home by individual users with success. We believe that a platform allowing blind and visually impaired to generate easy-to-use, unique thematic and topographic maps that comply with the requirements regarding tactile cartographic signs designs would be highly appreciated. Similar solutions already exist but only in the field of orientation and navigation maps and they have their limitations. Thematic tactile maps are very important to perceive various information that are provided by spatial data and we would like to focus on them in our presentation.

Blind User Experiences of US Academic Libraries can be Improved by More Proactive Reference Service Delivery

A Review of:
 Mulliken, A. (2017). There is nothing inherently mysterious about assistive technology: A qualitative study about blind user experiences in US academic libraries. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(2), 115-126. https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.2.6528 
 Abstract
 Objective – To explore blind users’ experiences with academic libraries.
 Design – Qualitative questionnaire.
 Setting – Academic libraries within the United States of America.
 Subjects – 18 individuals who are legally blind, have experience relying on a screen reader to access the internet, and have used an academic library either online or in person within the previous two years.
 Methods – An open-ended questionnaire was administered via telephone interview. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using an inductive approach to identify themes using Hill et al.’s (2005) approach.
 Main Results – The author found seven themes in the interview data: experiences working with reference librarians in person, difficulty with library websites, screen reader use during reference transactions, preferences for independence, using chat, interactions with disability officers, and challenges of working with citation styles. 
 Conclusion – The study concluded that academic libraries and librarians should be more proactive when approaching reference services for blind users. The author offered suggestions for practice about how to improve blind user experiences of academic libraries.

Auto-Suggesting Browsing Actions for Personalized Web Screen Reading.

Web browsing has never been easy for blind people, primarily due to the serial press-and-listen interaction mode of screen readers - their "go-to" assistive technology. Even simple navigational browsing actions on a page require a multitude of shortcuts. Auto-suggesting the next browsing action has the potential to assist blind users in swiftly completing various tasks with minimal effort. Extant auto-suggest feature in web pages is limited to filling form fields; in this paper, we generalize it to any web screen-reading browsing action, e.g., navigation, selection, etc. Towards that, we introduce SuggestOmatic, a personalized and scalable unsupervised approach for predicting the most likely next browsing action of the user, and proactively suggesting it to the user so that the user can avoid pressing a lot of shortcuts to complete that action. SuggestOmatic rests on two key ideas. First, it exploits the user's Action History to identify and suggest a small set of browsing actions that will, with high likelihood, contain an action which the user will want to do next, and the chosen action is executed automatically. Second, the Action History is represented as an abstract temporal sequence of operations over semantic web entities called Logical Segments - a collection of related HTML elements, e.g., widgets, search results, menus, forms, etc.; this semantics-based abstract representation of browsing actions in the Action History makes SuggestOmatic scalable across websites, i.e., actions recorded in one website can be used to make suggestions for other similar websites. We also describe an interface that uses an off-the-shelf physical Dial as an input device that enables SuggestOmatic to work with any screen reader. The results of a user study with 12 blind participants indicate that SuggestOmatic can significantly reduce the browsing task times by as much as 29% when compared with a hand-crafted macro-based web automation solution.

Post-editing and legal translation

At UNINT, the courses dedicated to technologies are inspired by the principles of PBL (project-based learning) and experiential learning. Following this approach, in the courses dedicated to assisted and automatic translation the students perform experiments to test some aspects or address problems that are detected through the observation of the translation industry: i.e., the compatibility of screen readers with CATs for blind users, the testing of Adaptive Machine Translation (AMT) systems being developed, the verification of the usefulness of the output of Machine Translation (MT) not only for translators but also for interpreters. This year, during the automatic translation and post-editing laboratory, thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of the courses dealing with translation technologies, a group of students carried out experiments on materials made available by the teacher of active legal translation module. The aim was to verify how effective the automatic translation integrated with the assisted translation from Italian into English was on a determined type of text, using procedures like pre-editing, the creation of ad hoc translation memories based on legacy material and the automatic verification of terminology through the creation of specific glossaries.

Adapting card sorting for blind people: Evaluation of the interaction design in TalkBack

This article reports the results of a research project conducted to address the lack of feedback provided by generic user eXperience (UX) design methods, specifically in the case of applications for blind users. The objective of this research was to determine whether the application of a modified card sorting interaction design method with blind users can provide valuable insights into the desirable architecture of the menus in an interactive software system. For the analysis of the effectiveness of this approach, we performed the test with 15 blind users, using a modified semi-closed card sorting method, focusing on the menu structure of specific software (Android TalkBack). As a result, we obtained significant feedback for menu organization that included the users suggestions for new tasks and categories. Based on these data, we recommend the use of the modified card sorting interaction design method to evaluate the usability of applications for blind users, because this method allows reliably defining how to select and order the menu items in an intuitive and friendly way that is specific for this type of users.

Accessible Gesture Typing for Non-Visual Text Entry on Smartphones.

Gesture typing-entering a word by gliding the finger sequentially over letter to letter- has been widely supported on smartphones for sighted users. However, this input paradigm is currently inaccessible to blind users: it is difficult to draw shape gestures on a virtual keyboard without access to key visuals. This paper describes the design of accessible gesture typing, to bring this input paradigm to blind users. To help blind users figure out key locations, the design incorporates the familiar screen-reader supported touch exploration that narrates the keys as the user drags the finger across the keyboard. The design allows users to seamlessly switch between exploration and gesture typing mode by simply lifting the finger. Continuous touch-exploration like audio feedback is provided during word shape construction that helps the user glide in the right direction of the key locations constituting the word. Exploration mode resumes once word shape is completed. Distinct earcons help distinguish gesture typing mode from touch exploration mode, and thereby avoid unintended mix-ups. A user study with 14 blind people shows 35% increment in their typing speed, indicative of the promise and potential of gesture typing technology for non-visual text entry.

A Wearable Vision-To-Audio Sensory Substitution Device for Blind Assistance and the Correlated Neural Substrates

There are a very few people who have the ability to “see” the surroundings by the echoes, which is called echolocation. The study of the brain mechanism of echolocation can not only help to improve the blind assistance device, but also provides a window into the research of brain’s plasticity. In this paper, we developed a wearable system to transform the spatial information captured by camera into a voice description and fed it back to blind users which is inspired by echolocation. After our online virtual scene training, users can easily discriminate object location in the camera’s view, motion of the objects, even shape of the objects. Compared with natural echolocation, it’s easier to learn and be applied in daily life. In addition, the device achieves high spacial resolution. In this study, two trained blind subjects and two non-trained sighted subjects were tested by using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). We obtain the fMRI images of the subjects’ brain activity when they were listening to the sound of the wearable prototype. Intriguingly, we find that after training with the blind assistance system, the blind’ visual area of the brain have been activated when they are dealing with the acoustic feedback from the device.

Scene Text Access: A Comparison of Mobile OCR Modalities for Blind Users.

We present a study with seven blind participants using three different mobile OCR apps to find text posted in various indoor environments. The first app considered was Microsoft SeeingAI in its Short Text mode, which reads any text in sight with a minimalistic interface. The second app was Spot+OCR, a custom application that separates the task of text detection from OCR proper. Upon detection of text in the image, Spot+OCR generates a short vibration; as soon as the user stabilizes the phone, a high-resolution snapshot is taken and OCR-processed. The third app, Guided OCR, was designed to guide the user in taking several pictures in a 360° span at the maximum resolution available by the camera, with minimum overlap between pictures. Quantitative results (in terms of true positive ratios and traversal speed) were recorded. Along with the qualitative observation and outcomes from an exit survey, these results allow us to identify and assess the different strategies used by our participants, as well as the challenges of operating these systems without sight.