title: Devices for visually impaired people: High technological devices with low user acceptance and no adaptability for children.
abstract: Considering that cortical plasticity is maximal in the child, why are the majority of technological devices available for visually impaired users meant for adults and not for children? Moreover, despite high technological advancements in recent years, why is there still no full user acceptance of existing sensory substitution devices? The goal of this review is to create a link between neuroscientists and engineers by opening a discussion about the direction that the development of technological devices for visually impaired people is taking. Firstly, we review works on spatial and social skills in children with visual impairments, showing that lack of vision is associated with other sensory and motor delays. Secondly, we present some of the technological solutions developed to date for visually impaired people. Doing this, we highlight the core features of these systems and discuss their limits. We also discuss the possible reasons behind the low adaptability in children.
authors.affiliation: U-VIP: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy. Electronic address: monica.gori@iit.it.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.affiliation: U-VIP: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cappagli
authors.affiliation: U-VIP: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tonelli
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Science Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baud-Bovy
authors.affiliation: U-VIP: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finocchietti
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003623:Dark Adaptation; D006801:Humans; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities