title: Indoor navigation by people with visual impairment using a digital sign system.
abstract: There is a need for adaptive technology to enhance indoor wayfinding by visually-impaired people. To address this need, we have developed and tested a Digital Sign System. The hardware and software consist of digitally-encoded signs widely distributed throughout a building, a handheld sign-reader based on an infrared camera, image-processing software, and a talking digital map running on a mobile device. Four groups of subjects-blind, low vision, blindfolded sighted, and normally sighted controls-were evaluated on three navigation tasks. The results demonstrate that the technology can be used reliably in retrieving information from the signs during active mobility, in finding nearby points of interest, and following routes in a building from a starting location to a destination. The visually impaired subjects accurately and independently completed the navigation tasks, but took substantially longer than normally sighted controls. This fully functional prototype system demonstrates the feasibility of technology enabling independent indoor navigation by people with visual impairment.
authors.affiliation: Minnesota laboratory for Low-Vision Research, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minnesota, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gordon E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Legge
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Beckmann
authors.forename: Bosco S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Tjan
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Havey
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rolkosky
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gage
authors.forename: Muzi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sravan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puchakayala
authors.forename: Aravindhan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rangarajan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004582:Electronics, Medical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012656:Self-Help Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012682:Sensory Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012984:Software; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult