Information Communication Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired People

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Minn Ang ◽  
Kah Phooi Seng ◽  
Tee Zhi Heng
Keyword(s):  
Independent Living ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Mobile Interaction ◽  
Handheld Device ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Recent Developments

The information explosion era provides the foundation for a technological solution to enable the visually impaired to more independent living in the community. This paper first provides a review of assistive technologies for visually impaired people. Current technology allows applications to be efficiently distributed and operated on mobile and handheld devices. Thus, this paper also summarizes recent developments of assistive technologies in mobile interaction. It then presents the Wireless Intelligent Assistive Navigation Management System Using SmartGuide Devices for visually impaired people. The “SmartGuide” of the system is built as a standalone portable handheld device. The system is to assist blind and low vision people to walk around independently especially in dynamic changing environments. It also includes a camera sensor network to enhance monitoring capabilities for an extra level of security and reliability. Finally, the paper presents an improved system with some new designs involving mobile interaction.

Information Communication Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired People

2017 ◽  
pp. 17-43
Author(s):  
Li-Minn Ang ◽  
Kah Phooi Seng ◽  
Tee Zhi Heng
Keyword(s):  
Independent Living ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Mobile Interaction ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Recent Developments

The information explosion era provides the foundation for a technological solution to enable the visually impaired to more independent living in the community. This paper first provides a review of assistive technologies for visually impaired people. Current technology allows applications to be efficiently distributed and operated on mobile and handheld devices. Thus, this paper also summarizes recent developments of assistive technologies in mobile interaction. It then presents the Wireless Intelligent Assistive Navigation Management System Using SmartGuide Devices for visually impaired people. The “SmartGuide” of the system is built as a standalone portable handheld device. The system is to assist blind and low vision people to walk around independently especially in dynamic changing environments. It also includes a camera sensor network to enhance monitoring capabilities for an extra level of security and reliability. Finally, the paper presents an improved system with some new designs involving mobile interaction.

A Novel Application of Information Communication Technology to Assist Visually Impaired People

2011 ◽  
pp. 103-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tee Zhi Heng ◽  
Ang Li Minn ◽  
Seng Kah Phooi
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Handheld Device ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Security And Reliability ◽  
Road Closure

This chapter presents a novel application for wireless technology to assist visually impaired people. As an alternative to the medical model of rehabilitation, the information explosion era provides the foundation for a technological solution to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. A “SmartGuide” caregiver monitoring system is built as a standalone portable handheld device linked. The objective of this system is to assist blind and low vision people to walk around independently especially in dynamic changing environments. Navigation assistance is accomplished by providing speech guidance on how to move to a particular location. The system delivers dynamic environmental information to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. Information of changing environments such as road blockage, road closure, and intelligent navigation aids is provided to the user in order to guide the user safely to his or her destination. This system also includes a camera sensor network to enhance monitoring capabilities for an extra level of security and reliability.

A Novel Application of Information Communication Technology to Assist Visually Impaired People

2012 ◽  
pp. 677-696
Author(s):  
Tee Zhi Heng ◽  
Ang Li Minn ◽  
Seng Kah Phooi
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Handheld Device ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Security And Reliability ◽  
Road Closure

This chapter presents a novel application for wireless technology to assist visually impaired people. As an alternative to the medical model of rehabilitation, the information explosion era provides the foundation for a technological solution to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. A “SmartGuide” caregiver monitoring system is built as a standalone portable handheld device linked. The objective of this system is to assist blind and low vision people to walk around independently especially in dynamic changing environments. Navigation assistance is accomplished by providing speech guidance on how to move to a particular location. The system delivers dynamic environmental information to lead the visually impaired to more independent lives in the community by minimizing the obstacles of living. Information of changing environments such as road blockage, road closure, and intelligent navigation aids is provided to the user in order to guide the user safely to his or her destination. This system also includes a camera sensor network to enhance monitoring capabilities for an extra level of security and reliability.

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.

Selecting and Purchasing Clothing: The Experience of Visually Impaired People in Hong Kong

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ng Sau Fun Frency ◽  
Hui Chi Leung Patrick ◽  
Choy Lin Foong May
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People

This study analyzes the decision-making process for selecting and purchasing clothing of 81 people in Hong Kong who are visually impaired. Data were collected through personal interviews. The results show that problems such as unsatisfactory sales services and insufficient clothing information still exist for people with visual impairments (both the group with blindness and the group with low vision), and also reveals that people who are visually impaired have different views on the relative importance of selection criteria for purchasing clothing than do their sighted peers.

scholarly journals Sustainable Museum Access: A Two-way Street

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Levent ◽  
Joan Muyskens Pursley
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Program Development ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
The Past ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Museum Programs ◽  
Audience Development

<p>Many adults who are blind or have low vision are reluctant to visit museums because of disappointing or less-than-welcoming experiences in the past. To attract visually impaired people to your museum, the authors urge you to make outreach and program development a "two-way street," to solicit advice and criticism from a variety of people who are blind or have low vision. In addition, they share issues raised at focus groups they conducted as part of Art Beyond Sight's Multi-Sight Museum Accessibility Study and its Project Access New York program.<br /><br />Key words<br />Accessible museum programs<br />Blind <br />Focus groups<br />museum audience development<br /><br /></p>

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.

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