Electronic Travel Aids for Blind Persons

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Everett W. Hill ◽  
Anna L. Bradfield
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Research Review ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Electronic Travel Aids

This article describes four of the most widely accepted and utilized Electronic Travel Aids—the Lindsay Russell Pathsounder, the Mowat Sensor, the Sonicguide™, and the C-5 Laser Cane. Current uses and applications of the four aids for specific populations of visually impaired persons are discussed. In addition, a research review provides insight into the issues affecting future use of the devices.

Electronic Travel Aids for Blind Persons

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 74-89
Author(s):  
Everett W. Hill ◽  
Anna L. Bradfield
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Research Review ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Electronic Travel Aids

This article describes four of the most widely accepted and utilized Electronic Travel Aids—the Lindsay Russell Pathsounder, the Mowat Sensor, the Sonicguide™, and the C-5 Laser Cane. Current uses and applications of the four aids for specific populations of visually impaired persons are discussed. In addition, a research review provides insight into the issues affecting future use of the devices.

Visual Impairment is Not Blindness

1971 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 334-336
Author(s):  
Benjamin Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Visual Impairment ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Functional Potential ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Partially Sighted ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons

□ Visual impairment is not necessarily blindness and the requirements of visually impaired persons are in many ways significantly different from those of blind persons. All too often agencies for the blind have not distinguished between these different requirements in providing services. The essential difference is that blind persons must rely on their other senses in order to function, while partially sighted persons must be helped to use whatever vision they have in coordination with their other senses. In providing services to partially sighted persons, the following basic principles should be considered: 1) Full service requires the cooperation of medical, physical, and behavioral specialists; 2) Services for partially sighted clients should be individualized on the basis of their differences in degree and quality of sight; 3) Whatever vision the client has should be augmented or strengthened through either mechanical or physical means; and 4) Clients should be helped to enhance their perception to its maximum functional potential.

Making the Web Accessible to the Visually Impaired

2010 ◽  
pp. 265-277
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Textual Description ◽  
Benjamin Constant ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
A Site ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons ◽  
Visually Disabled ◽  
The Web

Accessibility is the possibility of any person to make use of all the benefits of society, including the Internet. As the interfaces are typically graphic, sites can be an obstacle for visually impaired persons to access. For a site to be accessible to blind persons it’s necessary the information contained in the visual resources be reproduced by means of an “equivalent” textual description, capable of transmitting the same information as the visual resources. This study is aimed at identifying and defining usability guidance compliant with accessibility W3C directives that can facilitate the interaction between visually impaired and Internet and still guarantee sites with understandable navigation content. Towards this end an exploratory study was conducted, comprised of a field study and interviews with visually disabled people from Instituto Benjamin Constant, reference center in Brazil for the education of visually impaired persons, in order to get to know these users better.

The Use of Fax Technology to Address the Reading Needs of Blind and Visually Impaired Persons

1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (10) ◽  
pp. 509-513
Author(s):  
W. Gerrey ◽  
J. Brabyn ◽  
W. Crandall
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Office Workers ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons

Although fax communications pose a problem of accessibility for blind and visually impaired office workers, with centralized readers’ services they could be used to address the wider reading needs of blind and visually impaired people. With this technology, blind persons with fax machines could send unknown print to readers at a centralized readers’ service, who would read facsimiles of the documents over voice phones. This article discusses the specifications for appropriate equipment and protocols and presents the preliminary results of a study of such a system.

scholarly journals Current Use and Future Perspectives of Spatial Audio Technologies in Electronic Travel Aids

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Spagnol ◽  
György Wersényi ◽  
Michał Bujacz ◽  
Oana Bălan ◽  
Marcelo Herrera Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
User Requirements ◽  
Spatial Audio ◽  
Audio Cues ◽  
Current State ◽  
Spatial Sound ◽  
Auditory Representation ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons ◽  
Electronic Travel Aids ◽  
Audio Technologies

Electronic travel aids (ETAs) have been in focus since technology allowed designing relatively small, light, and mobile devices for assisting the visually impaired. Since visually impaired persons rely on spatial audio cues as their primary sense of orientation, providing an accurate virtual auditory representation of the environment is essential. This paper gives an overview of the current state of spatial audio technologies that can be incorporated in ETAs, with a focus on user requirements. Most currently available ETAs either fail to address user requirements or underestimate the potential of spatial sound itself, which may explain, among other reasons, why no single ETA has gained a widespread acceptance in the blind community. We believe there is ample space for applying the technologies presented in this paper, with the aim of progressively bridging the gap between accessibility and accuracy of spatial audio in ETAs.

Education and Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired in Latin America

1976 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 203-205
Author(s):  
Susana E. Crespo
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Special Programs ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons

The author discusses education and rehabilitation of the blind in Latin America today, with reference to how visually impaired persons were educated in the past, and what must be done to meet their needs in the future. She believes that the first objective is that of obtaining good statistics on the number of blind persons in a given area so that programs can be planned with an awareness of the needs of the visually impaired population. Other objectives include teacher training, providing schools with the necessary books and other equipment, and extending services for the blind to include special programs for the multiply handicapped.

Use of Community Resources in Rehabilitation of Blind Persons

1980 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 196-199
Author(s):  
Amy Bean ◽  
William F. Brown ◽  
David Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
Community Agency ◽  
Alternative Funding ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons

In a search for alternative funding sources, as well as opportunities to involve the community voluntarily in the rehabilitation of visually impaired persons, the Rehabilitation Center for the Blind in Daytona Beach turned to the local community college. After eight years of increasing cooperation and program diversification, the experiment continues and has become an integral part of the entire program. Although variations of this model undoubtedly exist in other areas of the nation, it might well serve as an example of the advantages—and risks—of increasing services through the extensive use of a community agency.

A Psychological Approach to Attitudes toward Blind Persons

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (7) ◽  
pp. 323-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Patient ◽  
Elderly Patients ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Vision Loss ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Psychological Approach ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons

In a paper prepared for presentation at Goldwater Memorial Hospital in the spring of 1986, the author discusses vision loss in elderly patients. The paper further addresses the effects of stereotyping on treatment for elderly visually impaired persons and stresses self-esteem and responsibility as two integral factors in the emotional and physical well-being of the elderly patient.

Independent Living Services to Older, Blind Persons in Rural Areas: Do They Make a Difference?

2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene B. Huff ◽  
Lou Ann Qualls
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Consumer Satisfaction ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Independent Living Programs ◽  
Blind Persons ◽  
Visually Impaired Persons ◽  
Independent Living Services

Independent living services are thought to be an effective and efficient way to maintain older blind and visually impaired persons in their home environment for a longer period of time. Few studies, though, have analyzed the level of consumer satisfaction among these elders. This study asserts that an enriched understanding of customer satisfaction and the resulting service delivery recommendations will assist states in developing more effective independent living programs. The Kentucky Department for the Blind has been offering these services to blind and visually impaired elders since 1980. This study analyzes the results of a consumer satisfaction survey participated in by 94 elders who extensively used the service. Results indicate that independent living services are effective but limited in their ability to serve all elders that need them and services must be flexible enough to serve diverse community needs.

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