Evaluation of Non-Visual Panning operations using Touch-Screen Devices

This paper summarizes the implementation, evaluation, and usability of non-visual panning operations for accessing graphics rendered on touch screen devices. Four novel non-visual panning techniques were implemented and experimentally evaluated on our experimental prototype, called a Vibro-Audio Interface (VAI), which provides completely non-visual access to graphical information using vibration, audio, and kinesthetic cues on a commercial touch screen device. This demonstration will provide an overview of our system’s functionalities and will discuss the necessity for developing non-visual panning operations enabling visually-impaired people access to large-format graphics (such as maps and floor plans)

Vertical Color Maps: A Data Independent Alternative to Floor Plan Maps

Location sharing in indoor environments is limited by the sparse availability of indoor positioning and lack of geographical building data. Recently, several solutions have begun to implement digital maps for use in indoor space. The map design is often a variant of floor-plan maps. Whereas massive databases and GIS exist for outdoor use, the majority of indoor environments are not yet available in a consistent digital format. This dearth of indoor maps is problematic, as navigating multistorey buildings is known to create greater difficulty in maintaining spatial orientation and developing accurate cognitive maps. The development of standardized, more intuitive indoor maps can address this vexing problem. The authors therefore present an alternative solution to current indoor map design that explores the possibility of using colour to represent the vertical dimension on the map. Importantly, this solution is independent of existing geographical building data. The new design is hypothesized to do a better job than existing solutions of facilitating the integration of indoor spaces. Findings from a human experiment with 251 participants demonstrate that the vertical colour map is a valid alternative to the regular floor-plan map

Spatial working memory for locations specified by vision and audition: Testing the amodality hypothesis

Spatial working memory can maintain representations from vision, hearing, and touch, representations referred to here as spatial images. The present experiment addressed whether spatial images from vision and hearing that are simultaneously present within working memory retain modality-specific tags or are amodal. Observers were presented with short sequences of targets varying in angular direction, with the targets in a given sequence being all auditory, all visual, or a sequential mixture of the two. On two thirds of the trials, one of the locations was repeated, and observers had to respond as quickly as possible when detecting this repetition. Ancillary detection and localization tasks confirmed that the visual and auditory targets were perceptually comparable. Response latencies in the working memory task showed small but reliable costs in performance on trials involving a sequential mixture of auditory and visual targets, as compared with trials of pure vision or pure audition. These deficits were statistically reliable only for trials on which the modalities of the matching location switched from the penultimate to the final target in the sequence, indicating a switching cost. The switching cost for the pair in immediate succession means that the spatial images representing the target locations retain features of the visual or auditory representations from which they were derived. However, there was no reliable evidence of a performance cost for mixed modalities in the matching pair when the second of the two did not immediately follow the first, suggesting that more enduring spatial images in working memory may be amodal

The Graphical Access Challenge for People with Visual Impairments: Positions and Pathways Forward

Graphical access is one of the most pressing challenges for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. This chapter discusses some of the factors underlying the graphics access challenge, reviews prior approaches to addressing this long-standing information access barrier, and describes some promising new solutions. We specifically focus on touchscreen-based smart devices, a relatively new class of information access technologies, which our group believes represent an exemplary model of user-centered, needs-based design. We highlight both the challenges and the vast potential of these technologies for alleviating the graphics accessibility gap and share the latest results in this line of research. We close with recommendations on ideological shifts in mindset about how we approach solving this vexing access problem, which will complement both technological and perceptual advancements that are rapidly being uncovered through a growing research community in this domain

Touch-Screen Technology for the Dynamic Display of 2D Spatial Information Without Vision: Promise and Progress

Many developers wish to capitalize on touch-screen technology for developing aids for the blind, particularly by incorporating vibrotactile stimulation to convey patterns on their surfaces, which otherwise are featureless. Our belief is that they will need to take into account basic research on haptic perception in designing these graphics interfaces. We point out constraints and limitations in haptic processing that affect the use of these devices. We also suggest ways to use sound to augment basic information from touch, and we include evaluation data from users of a touch-screen device with vibrotactile and auditory feedback that we have been developing, called a vibro-audio interface

COVID-19 and Visual Disability: Can’t Look and Now Don’t Touch

Article provides a scientific explanation for pandemic-related challenges blind and visually impaired (BVI) people experience. These challenges include spatial cognition, nonvisual information access, and environmental perception. Also offers promising technical solutions for the above challenges

Indoor Inertial Waypoint Navigation for the Blind

Indoor navigation technology is needed to support seamless mobility for the visually impaired. This paper describes the construction and evaluation of an inertial dead reckoning navigation system that provides real-time auditory guidance along mapped routes. Inertial dead reckoning is a navigation technique coupling step counting together with heading estimation to compute changes in position at each step. The research described here outlines the development and evaluation of a novel navigation system that utilizes information from the mapped route to limit the problematic error accumulation inherent in traditional dead reckoning approaches. The prototype system consists of a wireless inertial sensor unit, placed at the users’ hip, which streams readings to a smartphone processing a navigation algorithm. Pilot human trials were conducted assessing system efficacy by studying route-following performance with blind and sighted subjects using the navigation system with real-time guidance, versus offline verbal directions

Modality-independent coding of spatial layout in the human brain

SummaryIn many nonhuman species, neural computations of navigational information such as position and orientation are not tied to a specific sensory modality [1, 2]. Rather, spatial signals are integrated from multiple input sources, likely leading to abstract representations of space. In contrast, the potential for abstract spatial representations in humans is not known, because most neuroscientific experiments on human navigation have focused exclusively on visual cues. Here, we tested the modality independence hypothesis with two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments that characterized computations in regions implicated in processing spatial layout [3]. According to the hypothesis, such regions should be recruited for spatial computation of 3D geometric configuration, independent of a specific sensory modality. In support of this view, sighted participants showed strong activation of the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) for visual and haptic exploration of information-matched scenes but not objects. Functional connectivity analyses suggested that these effects were not related to visual recoding, which was further supported by a similar preference for haptic scenes found with blind participants. Taken together, these findings establish the PPA/RSC network as critical in modality-independent spatial computations and provide important evidence for a theory of high-level abstract spatial information processing in the human brain

Including supramaximal verification reduced uncertainty in VO2peak response rate.

Many reports describe using a supramaximal verification phase - exercising at a power output higher than the highest power output recorded during an incremental cardiopulmonary test - to validate VO2max. The impact of verification phases on estimating the proportion of individuals who increased VO2peak in response to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) remains an underexplored area in the individual response literature. This analysis investigated the influence of same-day and separate-day verification phases during repeated measurements (incremental tests – INCR1 and INCR2; incremental tests + supramaximal verification phases – INCR1+ and INCR2+) of VO2peak on typical error (TE) and the proportion of individuals classified as responders (i.e. the response rate) following four weeks of HIIT (n=25) or a no-exercise control period (n=9). Incorporation of supramaximal verification consistently reduced the standard deviation of individual response, typical error, and confidence interval widths. However, variances were statistically similar across all groups (p>0.05). Response rates increased when incorporating either one (INCR1 to INCR1+; 24% to 48%, p=0.07) or two (INCR2 to INCR2+; 28% to 48%, p=0.063) supramaximal verification phase(s). However, response rates remained unchanged when either zero-based thresholds or smallest worthwhile difference response thresholds were used (50% and 90% confidence intervals, all p>0.05). Supramaximal verification phases reduced random variability in VO2peak response to HIIT. Compared with separate-day testing (INCR2 and INCR2+), the incorporation of a same-day verification (INCR1+) reduced CI widths the most. Researchers should consider using a same-day verification phase to reduce uncertainty and better estimate VO2peak response rate to HIIT

Designing Media for Visually-Impaired Users of Refreshable Touch Displays: Possibilities and Pitfalls

This paper discusses issues of importance to designers of media for visually impaired users. The paper considers the influence of human factors on effectiveness of presentation as well as the strengths and weaknesses of tactile, vibrotactile, static pins, haptic, force feedback, and multimodal methods of rendering maps, graphs and models. The authors, all of whom are visually-impaired researchers in this domain, present findings from their own work and work of many others who have contributed to the current understanding of how to prepare and render images for both hard-copy and technology-mediated presentation of Braille and tangible graphics.©2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works