1,720,961 research outputs found
Exploiting the haptic and audio channels to improve orientation and mobility apps for the visually impaired
Full text linkOrientation and mobility apps for visually impaired people are well known to be effective in improving the quality of life for this target group. A mobile application that guides a visually impaired person step-by-step through a physical space is a valuable aid, but it does not provide an overview of a complex environment "at a glance," as a traditional hard-copy tactile map does. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a smartphone GPS map, enriched with haptic and audio hints, can facilitate cognitive mapping for visually impaired users. Encouraged by a preliminary study conducted in co-operation with two visually impaired volunteers, we designed and developed an Android prototype for exploration of an urban area. Our goal was to provide an affordable, portable and versatile solution to help users increase awareness of an environment through the positions of its landmarks and points of interest. Vibro-tactile and audio hints were linked to the coordinates on the map via the GeoJSON data format and were issued exploiting the text-to-speech and vibration features of the mobile device, as they were displayed through the operating system's APIs. Test sessions and interviews with visually impaired users produced encouraging results. Results, to be verified by more extensive testing, overall confirm the validity of our approach and are in line with results found in the literature
Using haptic feedback to support cognitive mapping in mobile applications for orientation and mobility
Full text linkThe aim of this study, which is currently underway, is to investigate how the haptic channel can be effectively exploited in a mobile app devoted to visually impaired users, for the preliminary exploration of a complex indoor environment, such as a shopping mall
Using localisation technologies and haptic feedback for a more inclusive society
Full text linkPeople with special needs face specific challenges in everyday activities. People with visual impairments, for example, have problems with orientation and mobility; moreover, they face serious issues when it comes to accessing information and services or perceiving the surrounding environment. Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial systems can offer interesting solutions to overcome these limitations and can support users with special needs in an inclusive way
Un piano di test per l'esplorazione di una mappa digitale su dispositivi mobili tramite canali audio e vibrotattile
Full text linkIl presente documento descrive l'applicazione HapticMapTest", sviluppata presso l'ISTI-CNR nell'ambito del progetto "TIGHT: Tactile InteGration for Humans and arTificial systems", e il piano di test che si è deciso di proporre agli utenti per validare le opzioni di interazione offerte dalla app stessa
A software architecture for a personalized and context-aware indoor navigation system
No full textThis paper proposes a context-aware model for a mobile indoor navigation system in which users' needs play a key role. We will present an overview of the underlying architecture, describe the main data involved, and show how they are used; we will especially focus on the role of the users' preferences and accessibility needs, since they are the key elements that allow to build a personalized and inclusive user experience. Thanks to a service-oriented architecture, a mobile application will be able to retrieve the most adequate information for its user about a specific point of interest in the environment, and issue a personalized notification. Examples of interaction with the system from the perspective of back-end operators will also be provided, in which we will show how the model entities are translated into practice during the configuration phase of the system. We will pay particular attention to the case of visually impaired users, for whom accessible navigation apps have proven to be effective assistive solutions to achieve better social inclusion and autonomy. We will assume to be using BLE beacons and an Android mobile app for our simulations, anyway we will show that our model is generalizable. Finally, future possible enhancements of the system will be discussed
Haptic reference cues to support the exploration of touchscreen mobile devices by blind users
No full textMobile devices are currently used for an increasing number of activities. However, their use is still a challenge for blind users. Main problems are especially due to the interaction via touchscreen and the lack of hardware keys for quickly detecting or activating functions. In this paper we investigated the use of the tactile channel to make interaction with touch-based mobile devices easier for blind users. After introducing common touchscreen usability problems, we presented our proposal aimed at enriching the user interface with haptic points to aid blind user orientation on the main sections of a user interface. Starting from two use cases, in order to set-up the proposed solution we have developed a simple controller prototype, based on Arduino open-hardware
Haptic-Based Cognitive Mapping to Support Shopping Malls Exploration
No full textThis paper describes a study, which is currently underway, whose aim is to investigate how the haptic channel can be effectively exploited by visually impaired users in a mobile app for the preliminary exploration of an indoor environment, namely a shopping mall. Our goal was to use haptics to convey knowledge of how the points of interest (POIs) are distributed within the physical space, and at the same time provide information about the function of each POI, so that users can get a perception of how functional areas are distributed in the environment "at a glance". Shopping malls are typical indoor environments in which orientation aids are highly appreciated by customers, and many different functional areas persist. We identified seven typical categories of POIs which can be encountered in a mall, and then associated a different vibration pattern each. In order to validate our approach, we designed and developed a prototype for preliminary testing, based on the Android platform. The prototype was periodically debugged with the aid of two visually impaired experienced users, who gave us precious advice throughout the development process. We will describe how this app was conceived, the issues emerged during its development and the positive outcomes produced by a very early testing stage. Finally, we will show that the proposed approach is promising and is worthy of further investigation
Vibro-tactile enrichment improves blind user interaction with mobile touchscreens
No full textInteraction via mobile devices is a challenge for blind users, who often encounter severe accessibility and usability problems. The main issues are due to the lack of hardware keys, making it difficult to quickly reach an area or activate functions, and to the new way of interacting via touchscreen. A touchscreen has no specific reference points detectable by feel, so a blind user cannot easily understand exactly where (s)he is positioned on the interface nor readily find a specific item/function. Alternative ways to provide content are mainly vocal and may be inadequate in some situations, e.g., noisy environments. In this study we investigate enriching the user interfaces of touchscreen mobile devices to facilitate blind users' orientation. We propose a possible solution for improving interaction based on the vibro-tactile channel. After introducing the idea behind our approach, two implemented Android Apps including the enriched user interfaces are shown and discussed
An enriched emoji picker to improve accessibility in mobile communications
No full textWe present an emoji picker designed to enrich emojis selection on mobile devices using audio cues. The aim is to make emojis selection more intuitive by better identify their meanings. Unlike the typical emoji input components currently in use (known as "pickers"), in our component each emotion-related item is represented by both an emoji and a non-verbal vocal cue, and it is displayed according to a two-dimensional model suggesting the pleasantness and intensity of the emotion itself. The component was embedded in an Android app in order to exploit touchscreen interaction together with audio cues to ease the selection process by using more than one channel (visual and auditory). Since the component adds non-visual information that drives the emoji selection, it may be particularly useful for users with visual impairments. In order to investigate the feasibility of the approach and the acceptability/usability of the emoji picker component, a preliminary remote evaluation test involving both sighted and visually impaired users was performed. Analysis of the data collected through the evaluation test shows that all the participants, whether sighted or visually impaired, rated the usability of our picker as good, and also evaluated positively the model adopted to add semantic value to emojis
- …
