Abstract
One of the main challenges facing the blind and visually impaired is independent mobility without being obtrusive to their environment. We developed a tactile low-cost finger-size sensory substitution device, the EyeCane, to aid the Blind in obstacle identification and avoidance in an unobtrusive manner. A simplified version of the EyeCane was tested on 6 sighted blindfolded participants who were naïve to the device. After a short (2–3 min) training period they were asked to identify and avoid knee-to-waist-high (Side) and sidewalk-height (Floor) obstacles using the EyeCane. Avoidance included walking around or stepping over the obstacles. We show that in the fifth trial, participants correctly identified 87 ± 13.6 % (mean ± SD) and correctly avoided 63 ± 15 % of the side obstacles compared to 14 % in the control condition (p < 4E-10 and p < 1.1E-05 respectively). For Floor obstacles, participants correctly identified 79 ± 18.8 % and correctly avoided 41 ± %37.6 compared to the control’s 10 % (p < 0.002 and p < 0.06 respectively).
Galit Buchs and Shachar Maidenbaum: equal contribution.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Shlomi Hannasy for help in developing the EyeCane and in running the experiments. This work was supported by a European Research Council grant to AA (grant number 310809); The Charitable Gatsby Foundation; The James S. McDonnell Foundation scholar award (to AA; grant number 220020284); The Israel Science Foundation (grant number ISF 1684/08).
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Buchs, G., Maidenbaum, S., Amedi, A. (2014). Obstacle Identification and Avoidance Using the ‘EyeCane’: a Tactile Sensory Substitution Device for Blind Individuals. In: Auvray, M., Duriez, C. (eds) Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications. EuroHaptics 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8619. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44196-1_13
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