Haptics-based, higher-order Sensory Substitution designed for Object Negotiation in Blindness and Low Vision: Virtual Whiskers

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Feng, Junchi, Hamilton-Fletcher, Giles, Hudson, Todd E, Beheshti, Mahya, Porfiri, Maurizio, Rizzo, John-Ross
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866914924850053120
author Feng, Junchi
Hamilton-Fletcher, Giles
Hudson, Todd E
Beheshti, Mahya
Porfiri, Maurizio
Rizzo, John-Ross
author_facet Feng, Junchi
Hamilton-Fletcher, Giles
Hudson, Todd E
Beheshti, Mahya
Porfiri, Maurizio
Rizzo, John-Ross
contents People with blindness and low vision (pBLV) face challenges in navigating. Mobility aids are crucial for enhancing independence and safety. This paper presents an electronic travel aid that leverages a haptic-based, higher-order sensory substitution approach called Virtual Whiskers, designed to help pBLV negotiate obstacles effectively, efficiently, and safely. Virtual Whiskers is equipped with a plurality of modular vibration units that operate independently to deliver haptic feedback to users. Virtual Whiskers features two navigation modes: open path mode and depth mode, each addressing obstacle negotiation from different perspectives. The open path mode detects and delineate a traversable area within an analyzed field of view. Then, it guides the user through to the traversable direction adaptive vibratory feedback. The depth mode assists users in negotiating obstacles by highlighting spatial areas with prominent obstacles via haptic feedback. We recruited 10 participants with blindness or low vision to participate in user testing for Virtual Whiskers. Results show that the device significantly reduces idle periods and decreases the number of cane contacts. Virtual Whiskers is a promising obstacle negotiation strategy that demonstrating great potential to assist with pBLV navigation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_14550
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Haptics-based, higher-order Sensory Substitution designed for Object Negotiation in Blindness and Low Vision: Virtual Whiskers
Feng, Junchi
Hamilton-Fletcher, Giles
Hudson, Todd E
Beheshti, Mahya
Porfiri, Maurizio
Rizzo, John-Ross
Human-Computer Interaction
People with blindness and low vision (pBLV) face challenges in navigating. Mobility aids are crucial for enhancing independence and safety. This paper presents an electronic travel aid that leverages a haptic-based, higher-order sensory substitution approach called Virtual Whiskers, designed to help pBLV negotiate obstacles effectively, efficiently, and safely. Virtual Whiskers is equipped with a plurality of modular vibration units that operate independently to deliver haptic feedback to users. Virtual Whiskers features two navigation modes: open path mode and depth mode, each addressing obstacle negotiation from different perspectives. The open path mode detects and delineate a traversable area within an analyzed field of view. Then, it guides the user through to the traversable direction adaptive vibratory feedback. The depth mode assists users in negotiating obstacles by highlighting spatial areas with prominent obstacles via haptic feedback. We recruited 10 participants with blindness or low vision to participate in user testing for Virtual Whiskers. Results show that the device significantly reduces idle periods and decreases the number of cane contacts. Virtual Whiskers is a promising obstacle negotiation strategy that demonstrating great potential to assist with pBLV navigation.
title Haptics-based, higher-order Sensory Substitution designed for Object Negotiation in Blindness and Low Vision: Virtual Whiskers
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.14550