Design For all case study: A navigation aid for elderly persons

Abstract

This study presents a body worn laser device as an appropriate navigation aid for the people suffering from dementia. The study is based on award-winning "Smart Navigation for Seniour Citizen" concept that was presented at Design For All Foundation 2012 International competition. The wearable mobile system which consists of a camera and a laser pointer is a chest worn device equipped with laser projectionbased arrows to guide the people suffering from dementia in indoor/outdoor mobility. This device is able to provide navigation aid to the people suffering from dementia in complex and unknown areas; it also helps the user to identify the real objects. A remote caregiver can easily get the scene where the demented person seeing and can guide the directions with laser projected arrows and directly pointing at the real objects with a laser pointer. In this paper we will explain the usability of chest-worn system in indoor/outdoor environments. The results of an indoor field test conducted with real end users are presented. Results reveal the validity and effectiveness of the chest-worn system in the complex and unknown areas.

A Systematic Review of Navigation Assistance Systems for People With Dementia

“…The different navigation assistance for people with dementia identified in our systematic review are presented in the Supplementary material Table named Extracted Data which summarizes the data extracted from 23 published studies [8], [12], [13], [14], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36]. The table is divided into four sections respectively pertaining to (i) general information regarding the experiment, (ii) the advice provided by the device, (iii) the technology used and (iv) the experimental methodology.…”

“…Almost every device (91%) provided information visually, most probably because vision is the sense on which daily life perception relies the most. Visual displays did present several issues related to low contrast (or luminosity) and small text-size [22], [27], [30]. As visual advice is often provided using a screen, variations in luminosity can cause visibility issues, particularly in outside settings [20].…”

“…Two possibilities have been explored to directly provide visual information in the field of view and limit the impact of double tasking. First, three authors directly inserted the visual advice in the environment using either LED strips [19], strobe lights placed on the floor [13] and a laser to project arrows on the floor [22]. When light cues were used, participants took more time to decide which way to turn but made the correct decision 75% of the time compared to 50% when no light cue was provided [19].…”

“…Among them, 30% used light, sound and/or vibrotactile stimuli indicating which decision to make at decision points, e.g., turning right at an intersection [13], [14], [18], [19], [23], [25]. Moreover, most of the devices providing route type advice (75%) used arrows to indicate at decision points which direction to take [8], [12], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [34]. They enabled people with AD or Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI) to obtain comparable spatial navigation and memory performances to neurotypical people in a virtual setting [32].…”

“…They enabled people with AD or Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI) to obtain comparable spatial navigation and memory performances to neurotypical people in a virtual setting [32]. Tervonen assessed the participants' preference for different shapes of 2D arrows and found that traditional ones are preferred to V shaped ones (see the green arrows in Figure 3, the left one is V shaped and the right one is traditionally shaped) [22]. An arrow was also used in a compass-like type of advice that differed from these traditional route advice and provided users with the direction and distance to their destination [27].…”