Detection of warning surfaces in pedestrian environments: The importance for blind people of kerbs, depth, and structure of tactile surfaces

Ståhl, Agneta; Newman, Emma; Dahlin‐Ivanoff, Synneve; Almén, Mai; Iwarsson, Susanne

doi:10.3109/09638280903171543

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…These findings suggest that the EyeCane can be used both as a primary and as a secondary mobility aid, thus providing upper-body protection while enabling each user to choose their personally preferred setup in general, and for specific tasks and situations. For instance, using the EyeCane mounted on the white-cane when walking outside, enables its users to detect tactile differences in ground surfaces (Øvstedal, Lindland, & Lid, 2005; A Ståhl, Almen, & Wemme, 2004; Agneta Ståhl, Newman, Dahlin-Ivanoff, Almén, & Iwarsson, 2010) and is reliable (Dakopoulos & Bourbakis, 2010), while providing additional upper-body protection. As H.B stated, after participating in the experiment; “ when not focused while walking, I am vulnerable to bumps from various waist-up obstacles such as branches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid

Buchs

Simon

Maidenbaum

et al. 2017

Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience

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Background: One of the most stirring statistics in relation to the mobility of blind individuals is the high rate of upper body injuries, even when using the white-cane.Objective: We here addressed a rehabilitation- oriented challenge of providing a reliable tool for blind people to avoid waist-up obstacles, namely one of the impediments to their successful mobility using currently available methods (e.g., white-cane).Methods: We used the EyeCane, a device we developed which translates distances from several angles to haptic and auditory cues in an intuitive and unobtrusive manner, serving both as a primary and secondary mobility aid. We investigated the rehabilitation potential of such a device in facilitating visionless waist-up body protection.Results: After ∼5 minutes of training with the EyeCane blind participants were able to successfully detect and avoid obstacles waist-high and up. This was significantly higher than their success when using the white-cane alone. As avoidance of obstacles required participants to perform an additional cognitive process after their detection, the avoidance rate was significantly lower than the detection rate.Conclusion: Our work has demonstrated that the EyeCane has the potential to extend the sensory world of blind individuals by expanding their currently accessible inputs, and has offered them a new practical rehabilitation tool.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid

Buchs

Simon

Maidenbaum

et al. 2017

Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience

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“…It is known from existing research (e.g. Demirkan, 2013) that there are complexities in detecting tactile surfaces in the real world; and that in a sample of eight blind pedestrians who were cane users involved in a study to assess detectability in a real-world experiment (Stahl et al, 2010) the white cane was reported in 61% of cases, feet in 18%, sound in 8% and 13% did not know. The participants in this study also 'stressed that habits and training improve the skills to detect warning surfaces' (Stahl et al, 2010: p. 478).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Older people's experiences of using tactile paving

Ormerod

Newton

MacLennan

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal E

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Tactile paving has been designed in response to the needs of vision-impaired pedestrians to be independent, mobile, confident and safe when using the external environment. Tactile paving is not without its critics because it can adversely affect other pedestrians particularly older people, and those with mobility impairments. Interviews were conducted at eight selected road crossing sites in Edinburgh to determine older people's experiences of using specific road crossings, in particular their views and experiences of using tactile paving. Two hundred participants were interviewed who were aged 65 years and older, and who appeared not to have a significant health issue or disability that was affecting their mobility. In addition, eight pedestrians who had significant mobility issues and 30 pedestrians who had moderate to severe vision impairment were interviewed. Findings demonstrate the importance of training in tactile paving for pedestrians with a vision impairment; the need for a review of the guidance on tactile paving such that greater emphasis is placed on detectability and tonal contrast, and tonal contrast; a consideration as to whether seven types of tactile paving is too many; and the need to minimise the effects of topography, particularly slope at road crossings.

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“…Regarding the detectability of warning surfaces for blind pedestrians, a study by Stahl et al (2010) compared a range of physical parameters. The study involved 12 participating blind pedestrians who were experienced at navigating pedestrian environments using a long white cane.…”

Section: Pavements Kerbs and Surface Differentiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accessibility of urban spaces for visually impaired pedestrians

Norgate

2012

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal E

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An ageing demographic together with the predicted increase in visual impairment of older people calls for a renewed consideration of the accessibility and social inclusivity of urban spaces. This paper synthesises the evidence on this topic and highlights areas for future development relating to the accessibility of urban areas for older, blind and partially sighted pedestrians in the light of recommendations and statements by the World Health Organisation's 'Age friendly' cities initiative, Guide Dogs UK and the Department of Transport's shared spaces local transport note.

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Detection of warning surfaces in pedestrian environments: The importance for blind people of kerbs, depth, and structure of tactile surfaces

Cited by 18 publications

References 16 publications

Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid

Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid

Older people's experiences of using tactile paving

Accessibility of urban spaces for visually impaired pedestrians

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