People With Visual Impairments Research Articles

Audio-Vibratory You-Are-Here Mobile Maps for People with Visual Impairments

Self-localization and wayfinding are challenging tasks for people with visual impairments (PVIs), severely impacting independent mobility. Visual “You-are-here” (YAH) maps are useful for assisting local wayfinding of sighted users. They are used to self-localize and display points of interest, landmarks and routes in the surroundings. However, these maps are not always available and rarely accessible to PVIs. Relying on an iterative participatory design process with eight end-users with visual impairments, we created a proof of concept of a mobile audio-vibratory YAH map. Our design is based on either a tablet or a smartphone to ensure a small and portable solution. A user study with ten PVIs showed that the audio-vibratory YAH map that we designed provides the user with a good understanding of the surroundings and wayfinding cues. Surprisingly, the results show that the audio-vibratory YAH map prototype was as usable as the control condition (audio-tactile YAH map with a tactile overlay), with similar user satisfaction and cognitive load. A follow-up field study with two participants showed the effectiveness of the prototype for assisting in crossroad understanding. To conclude, our innovative design of a mobile audio-vibratory YAH map can overcome the portability and printing issues associated with tactile overlays and can be an appropriate solution for assisting the pedestrian navigation of PVIs.

ChitChatGuide: Conversational Interaction Using Large Language Models for Assisting People with Visual Impairments to Explore a Shopping Mall

To enable people with visual impairments (PVI) to explore shopping malls, it is important to provide information for selecting destinations and obtaining information based on the individual's interests. We achieved this through conversational interaction by integrating a large language model (LLM) with a navigation system. ChitChatGuide allows users to plan a tour through contextual conversations, receive personalized descriptions of surroundings based on transit time, and make inquiries during navigation. We conducted a study in a shopping mall with 11 PVI, and the results reveal that the system allowed them to explore the facility with increased enjoyment. The LLM-based conversational interaction, by understanding vague and context-based questions, enabled the participants to explore unfamiliar environments effectively. The personalized and in-situ information generated by the LLM was both useful and enjoyable. Considering the limitations we identified, we discuss the criteria for integrating LLMs into navigation systems to enhance the exploration experiences of PVI.

AI-Vision: A Three-Layer Accessible Image Exploration System for People with Visual Impairments in China

Accessible image exploration systems are able to help people with visual impairments (PVI) to understand image content by providing different types of interactions. With the development of computer vision technologies, image exploration systems are supporting more fine-grained image content processing, including image segmentation, description and object recognition. However, in developing countries like China, it is still rare for PVI to widely rely on such accessible system. To better understand the usage situation of accessible image exploration system in China and improve the image understanding of PVI in China, we developed AI-Vision, an Android based hierarchical accessible image exploration system supporting the generations of image general description, local object description and metadata information. Our 7-day diary study with 10 PVI verified the usability of AI-Vision and also revealed a series of design implications for improving accessible image exploration systems similar to AI-Vision.

SonicVista: Towards Creating Awareness of Distant Scenes through Sonification

Spatial awareness, particularly awareness of distant environmental scenes known as vista-space, is crucial and contributes to the cognitive and aesthetic needs of People with Visual Impairments (PVI). In this work, through a formative study with PVIs, we establish the need for vista-space awareness amongst people with visual impairments, and the possible scenarios where this awareness would be helpful. We investigate the potential of existing sonification techniques as well as AI-based audio generative models to design sounds that can create awareness of vista-space scenes. Our first user study, consisting of a listening test with sighted participants as well as PVIs, suggests that current AI generative models for audio have the potential to produce sounds that are comparable to existing sonification techniques in communicating sonic objects and scenes in terms of their intuitiveness, and learnability. Furthermore, through a wizard-of-oz study with PVIs, we demonstrate the utility of AI-generated sounds as well as scene audio recordings as auditory icons to provide vista-scene awareness, in the contexts of navigation and leisure. This is the first step towards addressing the need for vista-space awareness and experience in PVIs.

Evaluation of Qualitative Colour Palettes for Tactile Maps

Much attention is currently being paid to developing universally designed solutions. Tactile maps, designed for people with visual impairments (PVI), require both graphic and tactile content. While many more- or less-official guidelines regarding tactile symbols exist, the subject literature lacks clear guidance on creating legible, highly contrasting graphic symbols for visual perception by those with residual vision. This study specifically addresses the application of colour, a key graphic variable that Is most often used to differentiate area symbols. We wanted to verify whether it is possible to choose a universal qualitative colour palette for tactile maps. We have proposed four different palettes, each with eight colours, that were later evaluated in a controlled study by 16 PVI with varying sociodemographic characteristics, using the VIEW model. The model is widely applied in the area of marketing research and considers the following aspects: Visibility, Informational, Emotional Appeal, and Workability. Our results indicate a lack of unanimity in choosing the best qualitative palette. The results of three palettes are comparable, with a subtle preference for the palette optimized for colour differences using the Python algorithm. Notably, the palette commonly used in official tactile maps in Poland received the lowest scores in every analysed dimension.

Pointing Tasks Using Spatial Audio on Smartphones for People With Vision Impairments

Abstract We present an experimental investigation of spatial audio feedback using smartphones to support direction localization in pointing tasks for people with visual impairments (PVIs). We do this using a mobile game based on a bow-and-arrow metaphor. Our game provides a combination of spatial and non-spatial (sound beacon) audio to help the user locate the direction of the target. Our experiments with sighted, sighted-blindfolded, and visually impaired users show that (a) the efficacy of spatial audio is relatively higher for PVIs than for blindfolded sighted users during the initial reaction time for direction localization, (b) the general behavior between PVIs and blindfolded individuals is statistically similar, and (c) the lack of spatial audio significantly reduces the localization performance even in sighted-blindfolded users. Based on our findings, we discuss the system and interaction design implications for making future mobile-based spatial interactions accessible to PVIs.

Tactile maps of historical gardens: method of content selection

Historical gardens are a significant part of the cultural heritage. Exploration of such gardens is an important element of education. A particular challenge is to increase the accessibility of these facilities for the people with visual impairments (PVI). Among the aids enabling PVI visiting the gardens are tactile maps. The currently used tactile maps focus mainly on orientation and mobility. They do not allow exploration of gardens as a spatial composition, taking into account their cultural values. Therefore, the aim of our study was to develop the rules for content selection of tactile maps presenting those features of gardens that decide about their value, and to formalize these rules using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In this research we analyzed features of 15 gardens in the five garden design styles: Baroque, Renaissance, English, Romantic, and Japanese. In result, we have proposed the way of mapping of the five garden design styles in a form useful for PVI. We have defined the procedure of content selection, as well as the catalogues of elements to be mapped at different levels of details, distinguishing repetitive and unique elements of each style. Finally, we have defined the easy-to-use list of content elements of tactile maps in the five design styles. Our solutions are described in a formalized way that allows their unambiguous understanding and universal application. The proposed solutions contribute to increasing the accessibility of gardens to PVI and allow them to learn about the values of cultural heritage of such places.

Widen your vision: from technical accessibility to semantic intelligibility of information

Access to information and digital services is a fundamental right. To this end, websites and digital services must be designed in accordance with international technical standards, in particular the guidelines for the accessibility of Internet pages issued by the World Wide Web Consortium and, in addition, with national technical standards. However, people with disabilities are still at great risk of digital exclusion. Thus, our research is interested in examining (1) to what extent do technical standards support people with visual impairments (PVI) to overcome the digital divide, and (2) to what extent the digital information of an electronic state voting system is understood by PVI. To answer these research questions, we combined an interpretive literature review with a bibliometric analysis and conducted a three cycles action research in the context of an electronic state voting system in Switzerland. Inspired by the communication theory of Shannon and Weaver, our results show that to bridge the digital divide for PVI, it is necessary to improve (1) the technical accessibility of information and (2) the semantic intelligibility of information. Considering the comments of PVI on semantic intelligibility of information helps to improve information systems (IS) and to overcome the digital divide. IS designers and coders must rely on ex ante standards during development.

A Survey on Outdoor Navigation Applications for People With Visual Impairments

Outdoor navigation remains a challenging activity for People with Visual Impairments (PVI). Having examined the current literature, we conclude that there are very few publications providing a nuanced understanding of how PVI undertake a journey in an outdoor environment and what are their main challenges and obstacles. This is a critical step towards developing robust solutions that meet the requirements of this user group. We undertook a questionnaire-based study with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) and 49 PVI. According to the feedback from our questionnaire, current journey navigation apps do not provide PVI with sufficient information about traffic lights, crossroads, and physical obstacles to support a satisfactory interaction. Our study reveals key aspects of how PVI interact with outdoor navigation applications. Critical gaps exist, for example, over 63% of respondents indicated they had suffered an injury on at least one previous occasion when navigating outdoors. Based on the questionnaire feedback, we present a solution covering the main aspects of outdoor navigation for PVI. Our work aims to contribute to the improvement of outdoor navigation applications for PVI in the future.

"I was Confused by It; It was Confused by Me:" Exploring the Experiences of People with Visual Impairments around Mobile Service Robots

Mobile service robots have become increasingly ubiquitous. However, these robots can pose potential accessibility issues and safety concerns to people with visual impairments (PVI). We sought to explore the challenges faced by PVI around mainstream mobile service robots and identify their needs. Seventeen PVI were interviewed about their experiences with three emerging robots: vacuum robots, delivery robots, and drones. We comprehensively investigated PVI's robot experiences by considering their different roles around robots---direct users and bystanders. Our study highlighted participants' challenges and concerns about the accessibility, safety, and privacy issues around mobile service robots. We found that the lack of accessible feedback made it difficult for PVI to precisely control, locate, and track the status of the robots. Moreover, encountering mobile robots as bystanders confused and even scared the participants, presenting safety and privacy barriers. We further distilled design considerations for more accessible and safe robots for PVI.

Assessing people with visual impairments’ access to information, awareness and satisfaction with high-tech assistive technology

Assistive technology (AT) devices are designed to help people with visual impairments (PVIs) perform activities that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. Devices specifically designed to assist PVIs by attempting to restore sight or substitute it for another sense have a very low uptake rate. This study, conducted in England, aimed to investigate why this is the case by assessing accessibility to knowledge, awareness, and satisfaction with AT in general and with sensory restoration and substitution devices in particular. From a sample of 25 PVIs, ranging from 21 to 68 years old, results showed that participants knew where to find AT information; however, health care providers were not the main source of this information. Participants reported good awareness of different ATs, and of technologies they would not use, but reported poor awareness of specific sensory substitution and restoration devices. Only three participants reported using AT, each with different devices and varying levels of satisfaction. The results from this study suggest a possible breakdown in communication between health care providers and PVIs, and dissociation between reported AT awareness and reported access to AT information. Moreover, awareness of sensory restoration and substitution devices is poor, which may explain the limited use of such technology.

Is Telemedicine in Primary Care a Good Option for Polish Patients with Visual Impairments Outside of a Pandemic?

With the proliferation of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, attention began to turn to the risk of health disparities associated with its use among people with disabilities. Therefore, the present study investigates the level of interest in using teleconsultations (TCs) in primary healthcare among people with visual impairments (PVIs) and identifies their motivations and needs. A total of 219 Polish PVIs were surveyed using a combination of closed and open questions. About 50% of the respondents expressed interest in using TCs. The factor most closely related to the willingness to use TCs was age. The predominant reason for using TCs was to obtain a prescription or referral, and the most highlighted need was the possibility to choose between a TC and an in-person visit. The blind and poor-sighted participants differed in some regards. Our study indicates that TCs, under some conditions, may be a beneficial option for PVIs, and provides some directions for its effective implementation.

Iterative Design and Prototyping of Computer Vision Mediated Remote Sighted Assistance

Remote sighted assistance (RSA) is an emerging navigational aid for people with visual impairments (PVI). Using scenario-based design to illustrate our ideas, we developed a prototype showcasing potential applications for computer vision to support RSA interactions. We reviewed the prototype demonstrating real-world navigation scenarios with an RSA expert, and then iteratively refined the prototype based on feedback. We reviewed the refined prototype with 12 RSA professionals to evaluate the desirability and feasibility of the prototyped computer vision concepts. The RSA expert and professionals were engaged by, and reacted insightfully and constructively to the proposed design ideas. We discuss what we learned about key resources, goals, and challenges of the RSA prosthetic practice through our iterative prototype review, as well as implications for the design of RSA systems and the integration of computer vision technologies into RSA.

(In)visibilities About the Vulnerabilities of People with Visual Impairments to Disasters and Climate Change: A Case Study in Cuiab\xe1, Brazil

People with visual impairments (PwVI) represent a heterogeneous social group who often experience significant disabling barriers in exercising their rights throughout their life course. Understanding dimensions of vulnerability of PwVI to disasters and climate change is an important issue to reduce the culture of neglected disasters. To date, few studies have analyzed visual impairment and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This exploratory qualitative research project analyzed how to include PwVI in the DRR policies of Brazil. The research question is: how can we include PwVI in the discussion of DRR and climate change? The response to this question is part of a joint effort that involved a university, a hazard monitoring agency, and three institutions that work with PwVI. The three main results of the project are: (1) a mapping method to identify the exposure of PwVI to landslides and floods, and to create tactile risk maps tailored to them; (2) incorporating the voices of PwVI regarding their vulnerabilities and capacities with respect to disasters and climate change, achieved through shared interaction during 15 face to face interviews and one workshop attended by 100 people; and (3) an initiative of inclusive education to reduce some of the disabling barriers that intensify vulnerability.

LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IN COMMUNICATION OF PERSONS WITH IMPAIRED VISION

Modern society requires a constant keeping up with innovative trends in the field of information literacy and knowledge of new computer technologies. In order for each individual to be fully integrated into social life, to progress in education and to socialize successfully, it is necessary to master the basics of computer literacy. People with visual impairments tend to fit into the educational and social environment with the help of computer technology, but they mostly encounter difficulties due to insufficient knowledge of the individual needs of each individual. It is necessary to ensure accessibility, equal conditions of use for all persons and thus enable them to successfully establish and maintain communication. Key words: computer technology, advantages, limitations, communication, People with visual impairments

Designing for Independence for People with Visual Impairments

The notion of "independence'' is frequently used to motivate technology design in the HCI sub-field of accessible and assistive technology for people with disabilities. Despite the term's pervasive use, the literature lacks a recent articulation of its meaning in the context of assistive technology. What does independence really mean? Scoping the study to people with visual impairments (PVI), we posed this question to 10 individuals from diverse backgrounds through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Our findings reveal that PVI have internal experiences of independence and social experiences of independence, with surprising insights into the roles that people and technology play in supporting independence. We also discuss new ways to design for independence.

ColorWatch: Color Perceptual Spatial Tactile Interface for People with Visual Impairments

Tactile perception enables people with visual impairments (PVI) to engage with artworks and real-life objects at a deeper abstraction level. The development of tactile and multi-sensory assistive technologies has expanded their opportunities to appreciate visual arts. We have developed a tactile interface based on the proposed concept design under considerations of PVI tactile actuation, color perception, and learnability. The proposed interface automatically translates reference colors into spatial tactile patterns. A range of achromatic colors and six prominent basic colors with three levels of chroma and values are considered for the cross-modular association. In addition, an analog tactile color watch design has been proposed. This scheme enables PVI to explore artwork or real-life object color by identifying the reference colors through a color sensor and translating them to the tactile interface. The color identification tests using this scheme on the developed prototype exhibit good recognition accuracy. The workload assessment and usability evaluation for PVI demonstrate promising results. This suggest that the proposed scheme is appropriate for tactile color exploration.

Challenges and opportunities to improve the accessibility of YouTube for people with visual impairments as content creators

This position paper proposes technology opportunities for supporting people with visual impairments (PVI) as content creators, rather than just content consumers. While previous studies examined accessibility issues with functions and visual content on various social media platforms, little is known about experiences of PVI beyond just watching visual content. Our recent study revealed that there is a community of video bloggers (vloggers) with visual impairments who actively produce multiple categories of video content on YouTube. From the perspective of those vloggers with visual impairments, we would like to discuss challenges and opportunities to improve the accessibility of video-based social media platforms to support those video creators with visual impairments.

Assistive technology in large-scale assessments for students with visual impairments: A systematic review and recommendations based on the Brazilian reality

Currently, computer-based tests are widely used in large-scale assessments in education. However, the effective participation of people with visual impairments (PwVI) through the use of Assistive Technologies (ATs) to take these tests equitably and independently is an open challenge, particularly in countries with high social inequality, as Brazil. The present study systematically mapped the ATs used by PwVI to access digital information in large-scale assessments. Based on the systematic literature review methodology, 3012 articles from four scientific databases were retrieved, of which 28 were considered for analysis. The results point to a wide range of ATs to make tests accessible, as well as to a trend towards the implementation of global solutions through important partnerships and consortia. Such initiatives present proposals for accessible, reusable, and interoperable technology solutions that promote access to examinations based on the concept of universal design, in order to guarantee the right to education for everyone, including PwVI. Furthermore, our systematic review indicated that research on the topic concentrates in some countries (e.g., U.S.). Lastly, we found out that there is a research gap regarding how to implement and expand the use of these technologies in regions with rather different realities in terms of access to digital information, financial resources and ease of access to technology by PwVI.

AiSee

People with visual impairments (PVI) experience simple tasks, such as grocery shopping, to be an essential difficulty. Although the recent emergence of AI-technology has been dramatically improving visual recognition capabilities, the application to the daily life of PVI is still complex and erroneous. For example, image recognition engines require a clear shot of the targeted object and a contextual understanding of the information the user requires. In this paper, we aimed to understand the PVI's needs and their pain points in the task of identifying grocery items. Following a user-centered design process, we iteratively