scholarly journals Tangible Pictures: Viewpoint Effects and Linear Perspective in Visually Impaired People

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3253 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 747-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton A Heller ◽  
Deneen D Brackett ◽  
Eric Scroggs ◽  
Heather Steffen ◽  
Kim Heatherly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Visual Status ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Geometric Solids

Perception of raised-line pictures in blindfolded-sighted, congenitally blind, late-blind, and low-vision subjects was studied in a series of experiments. The major aim of the study was to examine the value of perspective drawings for haptic pictures and visually impaired individuals. In experiment 1, subjects felt two wooden boards joined at 45°, 90°, or 135°, and were instructed to pick the correct perspective drawing from among four choices. The first experiment on perspective found a significant effect of visual status, with much higher performance by the low-vision subjects. Mean performance for the congenitally blind subjects was not significantly different from that of the late-blind and blindfolded-sighted subjects. In a further experiment, blindfolded subjects drew tangible pictures of three-dimensional (3-D) geometric solids, and then engaged in a matching task. Counter to expectations, performance was not impaired for the 3-D drawings as compared with the frontal viewpoints. Subjects were also especially fast and more accurate when matching top views. Experiment 5 showed that top views were easiest for all of the visually impaired subjects, including those who were congenitally blind. Experiment 5 yielded higher performance for 3-D than frontal viewpoints. The results of all of the experiments were consistent with the idea that visual experience is not necessary for understanding perspective drawings of geometrical objects.

Mental Rotation of a Tactile Layout by Young Visually Impaired Children

Perception ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 891-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Ungar ◽  
Mark Blades ◽  
Christopher Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Response Pattern ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Visual Status ◽  
External Reference ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Partially Sighted

Mental rotation tasks have been used to probe the mental imagery both of sighted and of visually impaired people. People who have been blind since birth display a response pattern which is qualitatively similar to that of sighted people but tend to respond more slowly or with a higher error rate. It has been suggested that visually impaired people code the stimulus and its (or their own) motion in a different way from sighted people—in particular, congenitally blind people may ignore the external reference framework provided by the stimulus and surrounding objects, and instead use body-centred or movement-based coding systems. What has not been considered before is the relationship between different strategies for tactually exploring the stimulus and the response pattern of congenitally blind participants. Congenitally blind and partially sighted children were tested for their ability to learn and recall a layout of tactile symbols. Children explored layouts of one, three, or five shapes which they then attempted to reproduce. On half the trials there was a short pause between exploring and reproducing the layouts. In an aligned condition children reproduced the array from the same position at which they had explored it; in a rotated condition children were asked to move 90° round the table between exploring and reproducing the layout. Both congenitally blind and partially sighted children were less accurate in the rotated condition than in the aligned condition. Five distinct strategies used by the children in learning the layout were identified. These strategies interacted with both visual status and age. We suggest that the use of strategies, rather than visual status or chronological age, accounts for differences in performance between children.

A Novel Application of Information Communication Technology to Assist Visually Impaired People

2011 ◽  
pp. 103-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tee Zhi Heng ◽  
Ang Li Minn ◽  
Seng Kah Phooi
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Handheld Device ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Security And Reliability ◽  
Road Closure

This chapter presents a novel application for wireless technology to assist visually impaired people. As an alternative to the medical model of rehabilitation, the information explosion era provides the foundation for a technological solution to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. A “SmartGuide” caregiver monitoring system is built as a standalone portable handheld device linked. The objective of this system is to assist blind and low vision people to walk around independently especially in dynamic changing environments. Navigation assistance is accomplished by providing speech guidance on how to move to a particular location. The system delivers dynamic environmental information to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. Information of changing environments such as road blockage, road closure, and intelligent navigation aids is provided to the user in order to guide the user safely to his or her destination. This system also includes a camera sensor network to enhance monitoring capabilities for an extra level of security and reliability.

scholarly journals Designing Talking ATM System for People with Visual Impairments

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.7) ◽  
pp. 657
Author(s):  
Damodar Magdum ◽  
Tejaswini Patil ◽  
Dr Maloji Suman ◽  
Dr T.B. Mohite Patil
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Speech Synthesis ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Banking Services ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Automated Teller Machine ◽  
Audio Information ◽  
Financial Transactions

In this paper, we discuss process of design and development of talking ATM for visually impaired people. Automated Teller Machine (ATM) has become vital part of our life to perform financial transactions without intervention of human banker. ATM facilitates cash withdrawal, balance check, mini statement and fund transfer. But, these banking services using ATM cannot be directly used by some set of people of society such as people with low vision, visually impaired, illiterate as lack of accessing ATM through screens. Even they can be defrauded at ATM centers. To digitally include these set of people, talking ATMs are evolved. Talking ATM provides accessibility to ATM services by providing audio component. Many ATMs employ headphone jack that facilitates user to do transaction with security. The audio information is generated either using pre-recorded speech corpus or through speech synthesis engine. The paper summarizes how ATM works, need, proposed solution of talking ATM for visually impaired users, design and development talking ATM using concatenated Text To Speech.  

Selecting and Purchasing Clothing: The Experience of Visually Impaired People in Hong Kong

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ng Sau Fun Frency ◽  
Hui Chi Leung Patrick ◽  
Choy Lin Foong May
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People

This study analyzes the decision-making process for selecting and purchasing clothing of 81 people in Hong Kong who are visually impaired. Data were collected through personal interviews. The results show that problems such as unsatisfactory sales services and insufficient clothing information still exist for people with visual impairments (both the group with blindness and the group with low vision), and also reveals that people who are visually impaired have different views on the relative importance of selection criteria for purchasing clothing than do their sighted peers.

scholarly journals The Haptic Müller-Lyer Illusion in Sighted and Blind People

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3340 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 1263-1274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton A Heller ◽  
Deneen D Brackett ◽  
Kathy Wilson ◽  
Keiko Yoneyama ◽  
Amanda Boyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Spatial Distortion ◽  
Lyer Illusion ◽  
Visual Status ◽  
Nonsignificant Difference ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Size Estimates

We examined the effect of visual experience on the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion. Subjects made size estimates of raised lines by using a sliding haptic ruler. Independent groups of blindfolded-sighted, late-blind, congenitally blind, and low-vision subjects judged the sizes of wings-in and wings-out stimuli, plain lines, and lines with short vertical ends. An illusion was found, since the wings-in stimuli were judged as shorter than the wings-out patterns and all of the other stimuli. Subjects generally underestimated the lengths of lines. In a second experiment we found a nonsignificant difference between length judgments of raised lines as opposed to smooth wooden dowels. The strength of the haptic illusion depends upon the angles of the wings, with a much stronger illusion for more acute angles. The effect of visual status was nonsignificant, suggesting that spatial distortion in the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion does not depend upon visual imagery or visual experience.

scholarly journals Sustainable Museum Access: A Two-way Street

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Levent ◽  
Joan Muyskens Pursley
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Program Development ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
The Past ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Museum Programs ◽  
Audience Development

<p>Many adults who are blind or have low vision are reluctant to visit museums because of disappointing or less-than-welcoming experiences in the past. To attract visually impaired people to your museum, the authors urge you to make outreach and program development a "two-way street," to solicit advice and criticism from a variety of people who are blind or have low vision. In addition, they share issues raised at focus groups they conducted as part of Art Beyond Sight's Multi-Sight Museum Accessibility Study and its Project Access New York program.<br /><br />Key words<br />Accessible museum programs<br />Blind <br />Focus groups<br />museum audience development<br /><br /></p>

scholarly journals Educational Practices for Oral Health Promotion of Blind Students Using Three-Dimensional Tactile Book

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aixa Hafsha
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Oral Health Promotion ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
The World ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Benjamin Constant ◽  
Blind Students

The world we live is visual and visually impaired people have a unique way of knowing and recognizing what is around them. In this perspective, the study aimed to produce a three-dimensional tactile book with authorial history on oral health involving the theme caries. This study was developed at Benjamin Constant Institute, involving three blind students with ages between five and eight years old. The book produced was read to students who had the opportunity to handle it. The students read the stories to their family members who filmed the actions and sent them to the investigators of the study. We observed that the book contributed to the meaningful learning of students about oral hygiene.

scholarly journals Enabling visually impaired people to learn three-dimensional tactile graphics with a 3DOF haptic mouse

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariacarla Memeo ◽  
Marco Jacono ◽  
Giulio Sandini ◽  
Luca Brayda
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Vision Loss ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Contact Point ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Scalar Fields ◽  
Sensory Substitution ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Substitution System

Abstract Background In this work, we present a novel sensory substitution system that enables to learn three dimensional digital information via touch when vision is unavailable. The system is based on a mouse-shaped device, designed to jointly perceive, with one finger only, local tactile height and inclination cues of arbitrary scalar fields. The device hosts a tactile actuator with three degrees of freedom: elevation, roll and pitch. The actuator approximates the tactile interaction with a plane tangential to the contact point between the finger and the field. Spatial information can therefore be mentally constructed by integrating local and global tactile cues: the actuator provides local cues, whereas proprioception associated with the mouse motion provides the global cues. Methods The efficacy of the system is measured by a virtual/real object-matching task. Twenty-four gender and age-matched participants (one blind and one blindfolded sighted group) matched a tactile dictionary of virtual objects with their 3D-printed solid version. The exploration of the virtual objects happened in three conditions, i.e., with isolated or combined height and inclination cues. We investigated the performance and the mental cost of approximating virtual objects in these tactile conditions. Results In both groups, elevation and inclination cues were sufficient to recognize the tactile dictionary, but their combination worked at best. The presence of elevation decreased a subjective estimate of mental effort. Interestingly, only visually impaired participants were aware of their performance and were able to predict it. Conclusions The proposed technology could facilitate the learning of science, engineering and mathematics in absence of vision, being also an industrial low-cost solution to make graphical user interfaces accessible for people with vision loss.

Usability Evaluation of Tactile Map Symbols across Three Production Technologies

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megen E. Brittell ◽  
Amy K. Lobben ◽  
Megan M. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
User Preference ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Multiple Production ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Production Technologies ◽  
Measured Speed ◽  
Tactile Maps

Introduction Technological advances have introduced three-dimensional (3-D) printing as an option for creating tactile maps for people with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision), diversifying the types of map products that are available. At the same time, it presents a challenge to map makers to implement designs across multiple production methods. We evaluated map symbols to determine their discriminability across three different materials: microcapsule paper, 3-D printer plastic, and embossed paper. Methods In a single session lasting less than 90 minutes, participants completed a matching task and provided informal feedback regarding their preferences. We measured speed and accuracy to establish discriminability of map symbols on each of the materials. Eighteen participants were recruited from a referred sample among attendees at the American Council of the Blind annual convention in 2013. Results Response times were significantly different across the three materials (p < 0.001). Without sacrificing accuracy, response times were faster for the 3-D printed graphics than for either the microcapsule paper (p < 0.001) or the embossed paper (p < 0.001). User preference was divided across the three materials. Some people disliked the “sharp” corners of the 3-D printed symbols, while others preferred their “crisp” edges. Discussion Our results demonstrate faster discriminability of a set of tactile symbols produced on a 3-D printer compared to those same symbols printed on microcapsule paper, the material for which the symbols were originally designed. Participant feedback reflected preferences both in favor of and against reading symbols produced on the 3-D printer. Implications for practitioners This article discusses the functional equivalence of tactile symbols produced across multiple production technologies. It addresses two considerations when using 3-D printing to make tactile maps: preparing digital files for printing and the printing work flow. Digital files ready for printing on each of the three materials are available for download (Brittell, Lobben, & Lawrence 2016).

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