scholarly journals Towards a Training Framework for Improved Assistive Mobile App Acceptance and Use Rates by Blind and Visually Impaired People

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paraskevi Theodorou ◽  
Apostolos Meliones
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Psychological Features

The development of mobile apps, which are either suitably adapted or especially designed for use by sensory-deprived people, have contributed significantly to the continuously increasing adoption of digital assistive technologies by people with disabilities. Throughout the design of two assistive navigation mobile apps for blind and visually impaired people (BVI), a set of everyday practices and psychological features of the BVIs with respect to the use of mobile technology was identified. Specifically, interviews with BVIs were held at the first stage of the design process. The analysis of the responses revealed that appropriate training of a BVI on how to use these apps plays significant role on the anticipated app adoption and use rate. This study presents the everyday practices and psychological features of the BVIs, as they were inferred from the analysis of the interviews. It is argued that these psychological features and practices must be considered in the development of training practices concerning the use of the proposed technology. Towards this direction, a framework for the adequate training of BVIs on the use of assistive mobile apps is presented. Consideration of this framework during the development of assistive mobile apps for BVIs could contribute towards higher adoption rates.

scholarly journals Accessibility of Tables in PDF Documents

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nosheen Fayyaz ◽  
Shah Khusro ◽  
Shakir Ullah
Keyword(s):  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Original Material ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
The Web

People access and share information over the web and in other digital environments, including digital libraries, in the form of documents such as books, articles, technical reports, etc. These documents are in a variety of formats, of which the Portable Document Format (PDF) is most widely used because of its emphasis on preserving the layout of the original material. The retrieval of relevant material from these derivative documents is challenging for information retrieval (IR) because the rich semantic structure of these documents is lost. The retrieval of important units such as images, figures, algorithms, mathematical formulas, and tables becomes a challenge. Among these elements, tables are particularly important because they can add value to the resource description, discovery, and accessibility of documents not only on the web but also in libraries if they are made retrievable and presentable to readers. Sighted users comprehend tables for sensemaking using visual cues, but blind and visually impaired users must rely on assistive technologies, including text-to-speech and screen readers, to comprehend tables. However, these technologies do not pay sufficient attention to tables in order to effectively present tables to visually impaired individuals. Therefore, ways must be found to make tables in PDF documents not only retrievable but also comprehensible. Before developing such solutions, it is necessary to review the available assistive technologies, tools, and frameworks for their capabilities, strengths, and limitations from the comprehension perspective of blind and visually impaired people, along with suitable environments like digital libraries. We found no such review article that critically and analytically presents and evaluates these technologies. To fill this gap in the literature, this review paper reports on the current state of the accessibility of PDF documents, digital libraries, assistive technologies, tools, and frameworks that make PDF tables comprehensible and accessible to blind and visually impaired people. The study findings have implications for libraries, information sciences, and information retrieval.

scholarly journals Inertial Measurement Unit Sensors in Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired People, a Review

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4767
Author(s):  
Karla Miriam Reyes Leiva ◽  
Milagros Jaén-Vargas ◽  
Benito Codina ◽  
José Javier Serrano Olmedo
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Measurement Unit ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Inertial Sensors ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Biomechanical Analysis ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Inertial Measurement ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Application Fields

A diverse array of assistive technologies have been developed to help Visually Impaired People (VIP) face many basic daily autonomy challenges. Inertial measurement unit sensors, on the other hand, have been used for navigation, guidance, and localization but especially for full body motion tracking due to their low cost and miniaturization, which have allowed the estimation of kinematic parameters and biomechanical analysis for different field of applications. The aim of this work was to present a comprehensive approach of assistive technologies for VIP that include inertial sensors as input, producing results on the comprehension of technical characteristics of the inertial sensors, the methodologies applied, and their specific role in each developed system. The results show that there are just a few inertial sensor-based systems. However, these sensors provide essential information when combined with optical sensors and radio signals for navigation and special application fields. The discussion includes new avenues of research, missing elements, and usability analysis, since a limitation evidenced in the selected articles is the lack of user-centered designs. Finally, regarding application fields, it has been highlighted that a gap exists in the literature regarding aids for rehabilitation and biomechanical analysis of VIP. Most of the findings are focused on navigation and obstacle detection, and this should be considered for future applications.

Design and implementation of a smart reader for blind and visually impaired people

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Punith ◽  
G. Manish ◽  
M. Sai Sumanth ◽  
A. Vinay ◽  
R. Karthik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People

scholarly journals An Enhanced Mobile Phone Dialler Application for Blind and Visually Impaired People

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Mohammad Yousef ◽  
Omar Adwan ◽  
Murad Abu-Leil
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Voice Recognition ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Phone Calls ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Windows Phone ◽  
Innovative Concept

This paper presents the development of a new mobile phone dialler application which is designed to help blind and visually impaired people make phone calls. The new mobile phone dialler application is developed as a windows phone application to facilitate entering information to touch screen mobile phones by blind people. This application is advantageous through its innovative concept, its simplicity and its availability at an affordable cost. Feedback from users showed that this new application is easy to use and solves many problems of voice recognition applications such as inaccuracy, slowness and interpretation of unusual voices. In addition, this application has increased the users ability to dial phone numbers more independently and less stressfully.

scholarly journals The Role of Self-Control on Mood States and Health Anxiety in a Sample of Blind and Visually Impaired People

Psychology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 05 (19) ◽  
pp. 2218-2227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierluigi Diotaiuti ◽  
Filippo Petruccelli ◽  
Luigi Rea ◽  
Angelo Marco Zona ◽  
Valeria Verrastro
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Health Anxiety ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Blind And Visually Impaired ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People
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