Navigation Training for Persons With Visual Disability Through Multisensory Assistive Technology: Mixed Methods Experimental Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Visual disability is a growing problem for many middle-aged and older adults. Conventional mobility aids, such as white canes and guide dogs, have notable limitations that have led to increasing interest in electronic travel aids (ETAs). Despite remarkable progress, current ETAs lack empirical evidence and realistic testing environments and often focus on the substitution or augmentation of a single sense.

Objective

This study aims to (1) establish a novel virtual reality (VR) environment to test the efficacy of ETAs in complex urban environments for a simulated visual impairment (VI) and (2) evaluate the impact of haptic and audio feedback, individually and combined, on navigation performance, movement behavior, and perception. Through this study, we aim to addre

SUBMITTER: Ricci FS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11612587 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature