TY - GEN
T1 - Learning to use electronic travel AIDS for visually impaired in virtual reality
AU - Ricci, Fabiana Sofia
AU - Boldini, Alain
AU - Rizzo, John Ross
AU - Porfiri, Maurizio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 SPIE
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Vision loss ranks among the top causes of disability in the United States. Visual impairment (VI) remains an urgent public health priority, causing loss of independence in almost every aspect of daily life. Mobility of the visually impaired requires skill, effort and training. In this vein, orientation and mobility training (O&M) is currently offered to prepare the visually impaired for independent travel in any familiar or unfamiliar environment, as well as to use primary and secondary mobility aids, such as white canes and electronic travel aids (ETAs), respectively. Even though O&M training is an established practice, it is not free of risks, as trainees may be exposed to potential harm. To address this issue, we developed a virtual reality (VR) environment for training with an ETA previously developed by our team (on which we presented at this meeting last year). The ETA comprises a belt, serving as a haptic feedback wearable device that senses the surroundings through computer vision and sends vibro-tactile feedback to the user's abdomen about the position of nearby obstacles. The belt is interfaced with VR, enabling trainees to immerse in a computer-simulated, safe, three-dimensional environment. Our integrated system brings the visually impaired into virtual scenarios where they can perform specific tasks-either simply to measure their performance or to train certain skills for rehabilitation purposes. The ultimate goal of our effort is to establish a training and evaluation framework that could mitigate the immobility consequences of visual impairment, improve quality of life, enhance social participation, and reduce societal costs, while creating an engaging and appealing experience to the visually impaired.
AB - Vision loss ranks among the top causes of disability in the United States. Visual impairment (VI) remains an urgent public health priority, causing loss of independence in almost every aspect of daily life. Mobility of the visually impaired requires skill, effort and training. In this vein, orientation and mobility training (O&M) is currently offered to prepare the visually impaired for independent travel in any familiar or unfamiliar environment, as well as to use primary and secondary mobility aids, such as white canes and electronic travel aids (ETAs), respectively. Even though O&M training is an established practice, it is not free of risks, as trainees may be exposed to potential harm. To address this issue, we developed a virtual reality (VR) environment for training with an ETA previously developed by our team (on which we presented at this meeting last year). The ETA comprises a belt, serving as a haptic feedback wearable device that senses the surroundings through computer vision and sends vibro-tactile feedback to the user's abdomen about the position of nearby obstacles. The belt is interfaced with VR, enabling trainees to immerse in a computer-simulated, safe, three-dimensional environment. Our integrated system brings the visually impaired into virtual scenarios where they can perform specific tasks-either simply to measure their performance or to train certain skills for rehabilitation purposes. The ultimate goal of our effort is to establish a training and evaluation framework that could mitigate the immobility consequences of visual impairment, improve quality of life, enhance social participation, and reduce societal costs, while creating an engaging and appealing experience to the visually impaired.
KW - Assistive technology
KW - electronic travel aid
KW - mobility training
KW - virtual reality
KW - visual impairment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132206681&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85132206681&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1117/12.2612097
DO - 10.1117/12.2612097
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85132206681
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Nano-, Bio-, Info-Tech Sensors, and Wearable Systems 2022
A2 - Kim, Jaehwan
A2 - Song, Kyo D.
A2 - Oh, Ilkwon
A2 - Porfiri, Maurizio
PB - SPIE
T2 - Nano-, Bio-, Info-Tech Sensors, and Wearable Systems 2022
Y2 - 4 April 2022 through 10 April 2022
ER -