CHS: Small: Non-visual Access to Graphical Information Using a Vibro-Audio Display

CHS：小型：使用振动音频显示器以非视觉方式访问图形信息

• 批准号: 1425337
• 负责人: Nicholas Giudice
• 金额: $ 49.99万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1425337&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CHS; Small; Non; visual; Access

Vision impairment is estimated by the World Health Organization as effecting 12 million people in the United States and as many as 285 million people worldwide, and these numbers are projected to double by 2030 due to the aging of our population. Lack of access to non-textual material such as graphs and maps is a major impediment for the blind, because the ability to apprehend and accurately interpret such information is critical for success in the classroom and in the workplace, as well as for independent travel. The inability to exploit this information helps explain why only about 11% of blind or low-vision persons have a bachelor's degree, why only 25% of blind people are employed, and why almost 70% of blind individuals do not navigate independently outside of their home. A major step toward improving these numbers, as well as the overall quality of life for members of the blind and low-vision community, would be to solve the longstanding challenge of affording low-cost and effective access to key graphical material.The PI's goal in this project is to develop and evaluate a highly intuitive tool for doing just that. To this end, he will explore a multimodal combination of vibro-tactile, audio, and kinesthetic cues that can be generated by modern touchscreen tablets (especially smartphones), to convey useful visual information in real-time. Benefits of this approach include portability, affordability, and flexibility of use for multiple critical and common applications such as those enumerated above. The PI argues that considering these design factors from the outset, in conjunction with principled empirical investigations to evaluate and enhance information perceptibility interleaved with frequent prototype testing and iterative refinement, with tight involvement of members of the target population in all phases of the research, will ensure that project outcomes significantly reduce the graphical information gap between blind persons and their sighted peers. The research will make important contributions to our understanding of how blind and low-vision individuals process non-visual information, which is essential for rendering perceptually salient multimodal graphics, and will also help establish best practices both for rendering these graphics using a vibro-audio interface implemented on touchscreen enabled devices, as well as for similar future specialized interface development efforts.

据世界卫生组织估计，视力障碍影响美国1200万人，全球多达2.85亿人，由于人口老龄化，预计到2030年这些数字将翻一番。 无法获得图表和地图等非文本材料是盲人的主要障碍，因为理解和准确解释这些信息的能力对于在课堂和工作场所取得成功以及独立旅行至关重要。 无法利用这些信息有助于解释为什么只有大约11%的盲人或低视力人士拥有学士学位，为什么只有25%的盲人就业，以及为什么近70%的盲人不能在家中独立导航。 提高这些数字以及盲人和低视力社区成员的整体生活质量的一个重要步骤是解决长期存在的挑战，即提供低成本和有效的关键图形材料。PI在这个项目中的目标是开发和评估一个高度直观的工具来做到这一点。 为此，他将探索振动触觉，音频和动觉提示的多模式组合，这些提示可以由现代触摸屏平板电脑（特别是智能手机）生成，以实时传达有用的视觉信息。 这种方法的好处包括可移植性、可负担性和灵活性，可用于多种关键和常见应用程序，如上面列举的应用程序。 PI认为，从一开始就考虑这些设计因素，结合原则性的实证调查，以评估和增强信息感知能力，并与频繁的原型测试和迭代改进相结合，目标人群成员密切参与研究的所有阶段，将确保项目成果显着减少盲人与视力正常的同龄人之间的图形信息差距。 这项研究将为我们理解盲人和低视力个体如何处理非视觉信息做出重要贡献，这对于渲染感知突出的多模态图形至关重要，并且还将有助于建立使用在触摸屏设备上实现的振动音频接口渲染这些图形的最佳实践，以及类似的未来专业接口开发工作。

项目成果

Comparing Haptic Pattern Matching on Tablets and Phones: Large Screens Are Not Necessarily Better

比较平板电脑和手机上的触觉模式匹配：大屏幕不一定更好

• DOI: 10.1097/opx.0000000000001274
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Optometry and Vision Science
• 影响因子: 1.4
• 作者: Tennison, Jennifer L.;Carril, Zachary S.;Giudice, Nicholas A.;Gorlewicz, Jenna L.
• 通讯作者: Gorlewicz, Jenna L.