NAV-VIR: an audio-tactile virtual environment to assist visually impaired people

International audienceThis paper introduces the NAV-VIR system, a multimodal virtual environment to assist visually impaired people in virtually discovering and exploring unknown areas from the safety of their home. The originality of NAV-VIR resides in (1) an optimized representation of the surrounding topography, the spatial gist, based on human spatial cognition models and the sensorimotor supplementation framework, and (2) a multimodal orientation-aware immersive virtual environment relying on two synergetic interfaces: an interactive force feedback tablet, the F2T, and an immersive HRTF-based 3D audio simulation relying on binaural recordings of real environments. This paper presents NAV-VIR functionalities and its preliminary evaluation through a simple shape and movement perception task

Ultrasonic sensor configuration for mobile robot navigation systems to assist visually impaired person

Ultrasonic sensor is one of the electronic components used in designing a mobile robot navigation system to assist visually impaired person. However, no guideline or algorithm has been established so far to ease the selection and determination of optimum number of ultrasonic sensors to be used and the layout for the sensors. The purpose of this study is to obtain an algorithm that can be used as a guideline for selecting appropriate ultrasonic component model. The algorithm is used for determining the optimum numbers and optimum layout for ultrasonic sensors of interest when used for a mobile robot navigation system for a 180° obstacle detection using theoretical calculations. All theoretical values obtained are compared with real-time data using an actual ultrasonic sensor placed on experimental platform. This set up is used with different numbers and placements using the selected ultrasonic sensor, HC–SR04 and is compared with the theoretical values for validation. Then, relevant equations are used to calculate the number of sensors and layout used for another ultrasonic sensor, MA40B8 to show the correctness of the equations used in this study. The MA40B8 ultrasonic sensor was originally used for a 360° obstacle detection system. It is proven that the equations used in this study are valid theoretically and experimentally. The algorithm can also be used to decide the optimum numbers and optimum layout for ultrasonic sensors for a 180° obstacle detection

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

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.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 643636.Peer Reviewe