Environmental Information Required by Individuals with Visual Impairments Who Use Orientation and Mobility Aids to Navigate Campuses

Abstract

Introduction: This study investigated the user requirements of individuals with visual impairments regarding the information to be included in orientation and mobility (O&M) aids in order for optimally useful audio-tactile maps of campuses to be developed. In addition, this study aimed at investigating the importance (usefulness) that individuals with visual impairments attribute to environmental information of campuses. Methods: The researchers listed 213 pieces of environmental information concerning campuses and address them in survey by conducting a respective questionnaire. Participants were asked to evaluate the information, regarding the importance or usefulness of the information in regard to safety, location of services, and orientation and wayfinding during movement. Through convenience sampling 115 adults (aged from 18 to 64 years) with visual impairments from four countries (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and Germany) took part in the research. Results: Pieces of environmental information, sorted in descending order starting with the most useful ones, have been listed. A repeated measures analysis of variance yielded a significant main effect for the type of information (safety, location of services, and wayfinding and orientation): F(2, 228) = 70.868, p < .001. Discussion: This study resulted in the specification of the most significant or useful information that should be included in O&M aids of campuses for individuals with visual impairments. Implications for practitioners: The results of this study will hold the interest of developers of O&M aids, O&M practitioners, rehabilitation teachers, and instructors who design and construct O&M aids. Moreover, the context for appropriately designed tactile or audio-tactile maps for campuses is provided, and campuses around the world could rely on this study for the creation of a valuable accessibility aid.

A bibliometric analysis of published literature on healthcare facilities' wayfinding research from 1974 to 2020

“…Navigation tools that collect data on the behavioral and cognitive underpinnings of the user can reduce gender differences in the process of wayfinding ( Martens and Antonenko, 2012 ). In addition, navigation tools for people with visual impairments ( Nam et al., 2015 ; Oliveira et al., 2018 ; Papadopoulos et al., 2020 ; Rey-Galindo et al., 2020 ), people with autism ( Irish, 2019 ; Yang et al., 2021 ), and people with dementia ( Blackman et al., 2007 ; Cm et al., 2020 ; Gresham et al., 2019 ; Marquardt and Schmieg, 2009 ) are increasingly being studied for wayfinding solutions and techniques.…”

Developing Methodologies for Navigation using Multimedia to help the Visually Impared

“…Researchers have looked at a numerous technologies, like artificial intelligence, to identify navigational aids that work for those who are visually impaired. Recently, there has been a growing exploration of deep learning models for navigation aid systems' obstacle detection [2][3][4][5]. Even if there are a lot of object detection models available, choosing one that is appropriate for a real-time navigational environment that requires minimal memory footprint and short inference time requires rigorous research and analysis.…”

Development of User Feedback-Based Optimized Encoding System for 3D-Printed Tactile Maps

“…Determining which elements of an interior environment should be included or excluded and then finding good representations for the tactile map components is challenging [30,31]. Some previous attempts at creating 3D-printed maps were focused on using information provided for sighted people such as 2D maps illustrations, or photographic imagery, such as Google Maps, and applying braille text, [30].…”

“…Although some recent research points to the use of 3D-printed iconic symbols [40], the results from these and other studies demonstrate that the function (i.e., the readability and representation) of a symbol must drive the design and inclusion parameters. Additionally, an overview of the previous tactile maps in [31,40] mentions that the users were specifically interested in safety and navigation information, entrances/exits, and indications of hazardous areas. In this study we present our iterative development process and the resulting set of new tactile encodings for improved navigation of interior spaces that were designed using continuous user feedback.…”