Haptic 3D Surface Representation of Table-Based Data for People With Visual Impairments

Abstract

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 24 states that "States Parties shall ensure inclusive education at all levels of education and life long learning." This article focuses on the inclusion of people with visual impairments in learning processes including complex table-based data. Gaining insight into and understanding of complex data is a highly demanding task for people with visual impairments. Especially in the case of table-based data, the classic approaches of braille-based output devices and printing concepts are limited. Haptic perception requires sequential information processing rather than the parallel processing used by the visual system, which hinders haptic perception to gather a fast overview of and deeper insight into the data. Nevertheless, neuroscientific research has identified great dependencies between haptic perception and the cognitive processing of visual sensing. Based on these findings, we developed a haptic 3D surface representation of classic diagrams and charts, such as bar graphs and pie charts. In a qualitative evaluation study, we identified certain advantages of our relief-type 3D chart approach. Finally, we present an education model for German schools that includes a 3D printing approach to help integrate students with visual impairments.

A systematic review of empirical research on learning with3Dprinting technology

“…The rest of the publications involved teachers participating in professional development and other participants across various contexts (e.g., visually impaired adults, Braier et al, 2014; medical patients, Wake et al, 2019). Our review also revealed a growing interest in using 3DP technology for students with special needs.…”

“…Five studies explored how to engage participants without visual impairments in designing 3D printed objects for individuals with visual impairments (Giraud et al, 2017; Kostakis et al, 2015; Pantazis & Priavolou, 2017; Stangl, Hsu, & Yeh, 2015; Stangl, Jernigan, & Yeh, 2015). In addition, two studies examined the educational uses of 3DP for students with special needs (Braier et al, 2014; Buehler et al, 2015). Overall, these findings suggest that 3DP learning is not limited to a particular age group, academic level, or type of educational setting.…”

“…3DP problem‐based learning was also implemented with visually impaired adults who evaluated haptic 3D surface representation of table‐based data (Braier et al, 2014). Participants were presented with a climate change scenario that required them to use table‐based data.…”

Visual content and its teaching-learning process for visually impaired: a big challenge

“…In the last years, VIs' assistive tools which use 3D and/or haptic technology have been developed [Kim and Yeh 2015, Braier et al 2015, Reusser et al 2019. Although the questionnaires represent a part of the scenario investigated, some intrinsic indications of why these technologies were not mentioned are the high cost of acquire them (and, consequently, use them) and the knowledge's lack about their existence.…”

Exploring the Design of Audio-Kinetic Graphics for Education

“…Much of this involves the creation of tactile graphics which can be useful for students with a range of visual abilities [11]. Recent work in this space has explored using Lego bricks [4], 3D printed images [2,18,25] and toy robots [9] to represent course materials. This work focusses on auxiliary content, which must be accompanied by an in-person or recorded lecture, rather than creating accessible versions of original lectures, as we do here.…”