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Haptic Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired

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Haptic Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired DOCTORAL T H E SIS Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering Division of EISLAB Daniel Innala Ahlmark Haptic Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired Aids for the Ahlmark Haptic Navigation Daniel Innala ISSN 1402-1544 Haptic Navigation Aids for the ISBN 978-91-7583-605-8 (print) ISBN 978-91-7583-606-5 (pdf) Visually Impaired Luleå University of Technology 2016 Daniel Innala Ahlmark Industrial Electronics Haptic Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired Daniel Innala Ahlmark Dept. of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering Lule˚aUniversity of Technology Lule˚a,Sweden Supervisors: Kalevi Hyypp¨a,Jan van Deventer, Ulrik R¨oijezon European Union Structural Funds Printed by Luleå University of Technology, Graphic Production 2016 ISSN 1402-1544 ISBN 978-91-7583-605-8 (print) ISBN 978-91-7583-606-5 (pdf) Luleå 2016 www.ltu.se To my mother iii iv Abstract Assistive technologies have improved the situation in society for visually impaired individ- uals. The rapid development the last decades have made both work and education much more accessible. Despite this, moving about independently is still a major challenge, one that at worst can lead to isolation and a decreased quality of life. To aid in the above task, devices exist to help avoid obstacles (notably the white cane), and navigation aids such as accessible GPS devices. The white cane is the quintessential aid and is much appreciated, but solutions trying to convey distance and direction to obstacles further away have not made a big impact among the visually impaired. One fundamental challenge is how to present such information non-visually. Sounds and synthetic speech are typically utilised, but feedback through the sense of touch (haptics) is also used, often in the form of vibrations. Haptic feedback is appealing because it does not block or distort sounds from the environment that are important for non-visual navigation. Additionally, touch is a natural channel for information about surrounding objects, something the white cane so successfully utilises. This doctoral thesis explores the question above by presenting the development and evaluations of different types of haptic navigation aids. The goal has been to attain a simple user experience that mimics that of the white cane. The idea is that a navigation aid able to do this should have a fair chance of being successful on the market. The evaluations of the developed prototypes have primarily been qualitative, focusing on judging the feasibility of the developed solutions. They have been evaluated at a very early stage, with visually impaired study participants. Results from the evaluations indicate that haptic feedback can lead to solutions that are both easy to understand and use. Since the evaluations were done at an early stage in the development, the participants have also provided valuable feedback regarding design and functionality. They have also noted many scenarios throughout their daily lives where such navigation aids would be of use. The thesis document these results, together with ideas and thoughts that have emerged and been tested during the development process. This information contributes to the body of knowledge on different means of conveying information about surrounding ob- jects non-visually. v vi Contents Abstract v Contents vii Acknowledgements xi Summary of Included Papers xiii List of Figures xvii Part I 1 Chapter 1 { Introduction 3 1.1 Overview { Five Years of Questions . 3 1.1.1 The Beginning . 3 1.1.2 Next Steps . 5 1.1.3 The Second Prototype . 6 1.1.4 The LaserNavigator . 7 1.1.5 Two Trials . 8 1.1.6 The Finish Line? . 9 1.2 Aims, Contributions and Delimitations . 10 1.3 Terminology . 10 1.4 Thesis Structure . 11 Chapter 2 { Background 13 2.1 Visual Impairments and Assistive Technologies . 13 2.1.1 Navigation . 14 2.2 Perception, Proprioception and Haptics . 15 2.2.1 Spatial Perception . 15 2.2.2 The Sense of Touch and Proprioception . 16 2.2.3 Haptic Feedback Technologies . 17 Chapter 3 { Related Work 19 3.1 Navigation Aids . 19 3.1.1 GPS Devices and Smartphone Applications . 19 vii 3.1.2 Devices Sensing the Surrounding Environment . 20 3.1.3 Sensory Substitution Systems . 21 3.1.4 Prepared Environment Solutions . 23 3.1.5 Location Fingerprinting . 24 3.2 Scientific Studies Involving Visually Impaired Participants . 24 Chapter 4 { The Virtual White Cane 27 4.1 Overview . 27 4.2 Software . 28 4.2.1 Haptic Rendering . 29 4.3 Field Trial . 31 Chapter 5 { LaserNavigator 33 5.1 Overview . 33 5.2 Hardware . 34 5.3 Software . 35 5.3.1 Additional Features and Miscellaneous Notes . 36 5.3.2 Manual Length Adjustment . 36 5.4 Haptic Feedback . 37 5.4.1 Simple Feedback . 37 5.4.2 Complex Feedback . 37 5.5 Algorithms . 38 5.6 Evaluations . 39 Chapter 6 { Discussion 41 Chapter 7 { Conclusions 45 References 47 Part II 51 Paper A{ Presentation of Spatial Information in Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired 53 1 Introduction . 55 2 Methods . 56 3 Non-visual Spatial Perception . 57 4 Navigation Aids . 58 4.1 Haptic Feedback . 58 4.2 Auditory Feedback . 59 5 Discussion . 59 6 Conclusions . 61 Paper B{ Obstacle Avoidance Using Haptics and a Laser Rangefinder 67 1 Introduction . 69 viii 2 Related Work . 71 3 The Virtual White Cane . 71 3.1 Hardware . 72 3.2 Software Architecture . 73 3.3 Dynamic Haptic Feedback . 76 4 Field Trial . 76 5 Conclusions . 78 5.1 Future Work . 78 Paper C{ An Initial Field Trial of a Haptic Navigation System for Persons with a Visual Impairment 83 1 Introduction . 85 1.1 Delimitations . 87 2 Methods . 87 2.1 Participants . 87 2.2 Test Set-up . 87 2.3 Field trial . 88 2.4 Interviews . 89 2.5 Data analysis . 89 3 Results . 89 3.1 Findings from the interviews . 90 4 Discussion . 92 Paper D{ A Haptic Navigation Aid for the Visually Impaired { Part 1: Indoor Evaluation of the LaserNavigator 97 1 Introduction . 99 1.1 Purpose . 102 2 Methods . 102 2.1 Participants . 102 2.2 Test Environment . 103 2.3 Task . 103 2.4 Observations . 104 2.5 Interviews . 105 3 Results . 105 3.1 Observations . 105 3.2 Interviews . 108 4 Discussion . 110 4.1 Daniel's Comments . 112 Paper E{ A Haptic Navigation Aid for the Visually Impaired { Part 2: Outdoor Evaluation of the LaserNavigator 115 1 Introduction . 117 1.1 Purpose . 119 2 Methods . 121 2.1 Participants . 121 ix 2.2 Trial Task . 121 2.3 Observations And Interviews . 121 3 Results . 122 3.1 Observations . 122 3.2 Interviews . 123 4 Discussion . 124 4.1 Daniel's Comments . 125 Paper F{ Developing a Laser Navigation Aid for Persons with Visual Impairment 129 1 Introduction . ..
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