Navigational aid use by individuals with visual impairments.

Navigation is a multifaceted task, which requires using a combination of strategies and cues from the environment. Navigation can be particularly challenging for individuals with impaired vision, because many informative cues are visual. As mobile computing technology rapidly advances, the range of potential approaches to assist visually impaired people with navigation is also broadening. For computer-based navigational aids, the way in which information is gathered, processed, and presented is key to success and represents a vast space of potential approaches. In an effort to improve understanding and provide guidance on this issue, we present the results of a phone survey about navigational aids from a sample of individuals with impaired vision. The survey assessed the usefulness of existing navigational aids (both low-tech and high-tech) for different aspects of navigation. With an emphasis on indoor wayfinding (orienting oneself and following a route in a building), we also collected responses about specific targets the survey participants search for while navigating, and strategies they commonly use. Our results indicate that indoor wayfinding is a relatively under-supported task during navigation despite rapid advances in technology. These results also provide insights for creating navigational aids that are designed more specifically for the current challenges individuals with impaired vision may experience during this task.

Using an Augmented Reality Device as a Distance-based Vision Aid-Promise and Limitations.

SIGNIFICANCE: For people with limited vision, wearable displays hold the potential to digitally enhance visual function. As these display technologies advance, it is important to understand their promise and limitations as vision aids. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to test the potential of a consumer augmented reality (AR) device for improving the functional vision of people with near-complete vision loss. METHODS: An AR application that translates spatial information into high-contrast visual patterns was developed. Two experiments assessed the efficacy of the application to improve vision: an exploratory study with four visually impaired participants and a main controlled study with participants with simulated vision loss (n = 48). In both studies, performance was tested on a range of visual tasks (identifying the location, pose and gesture of a person, identifying objects, and moving around in an unfamiliar space). Participants' accuracy and confidence were compared on these tasks with and without augmented vision, as well as their subjective responses about ease of mobility. RESULTS: In the main study, the AR application was associated with substantially improved accuracy and confidence in object recognition (all P < .001) and to a lesser degree in gesture recognition (P < .05). There was no significant change in performance on identifying body poses or in subjective assessments of mobility, as compared with a control group. CONCLUSIONS: Consumer AR devices may soon be able to support applications that improve the functional vision of users for some tasks. In our study, both artificially impaired participants and participants with near-complete vision loss performed tasks that they could not do without the AR system. Current limitations in system performance and form factor, as well as the risk of overconfidence, will need to be overcome.