CAREER: Designing Head-Mounted Display Systems to Support People with Low Vision in Outdoor Navigation

即使有手杖和狗，视力障碍的人在户外导航时也面临着严峻的挑战。研究人员提出了移动和寻路系统，如智能手杖和可访问的路由应用程序，提供一系列音频或触觉反馈。然而，超过90%的视障人群视力低下，这意味着他们的视力可用但有限，无法完全矫正。低视力的人通常更喜欢使用他们的视觉，而不是依赖于音频或触觉工具。本研究计划旨在为这一用户群体设计应用程序。与之前的无障碍导航方法不同，我们将探索不同类型的视觉增强和音频提示，以帮助完成几个户外导航任务。项目成果将有助于低视力技术的开发人员、教师、定向和行动指导员以及与低视力人群一起工作的康复咨询师。通过让残疾人成为团队成员，以及通过设计一门新的无障碍课程，让学生与残疾导师进行更多的互动，这项研究将产生更广泛的影响。这项研究将开发和评估头戴式显示器的应用，该显示器提供有针对性的视觉和音频增强和提示，以帮助低视力人群进行户外导航任务。通过迭代的以用户为中心的设计过程，将设计和比较不同类型的视觉增强和视觉和音频提示，如放大，箭头和哔哔声。这些增强和提示将突出环境中的重要信息并增加其可访问性。四项导航任务将被解决：避开道路上的障碍物，导航海拔变化，阅读标志，以及找到指定的目的地。对于每个任务，一个或多个功能原型将在目标用户社区成员参与的自然环境中实现和评估。根据研究结果，将颁布针对不同类型的低视力情况使用视觉和听觉提示的指南。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Even with guide canes and dogs, people with visual impairments face severe challenges when navigating outdoors. Researchers have proposed mobility and wayfinding systems like smart canes and accessible routing applications that provide a range of audio or haptic feedback. However, over 90% of the visually impaired population has low vision, which means they have usable but limited vision that cannot be fully corrected. People with low vision typically prefer to use their vision and not rely on audio or haptic tools. This research program aims to design applications for this user community. Unlike prior approaches to accessible navigation, different kinds of visual enhancements and audio cues will be explored to help with several outdoor navigation tasks. Project outcomes will help developers of low vision technologies, teachers, orientation and mobility instructors, and rehabilitation counselors who work with people with low vision. Additional broader impact will derive from this research by engaging people with disabilities as members of the team as well as through the design of a new accessibility course in which students have extended interactions with mentors who have disabilities.This research will develop and evaluate applications for head-mounted displays that provide targeted visual and audio enhancements and cues to help people with low vision in outdoor navigation tasks. Through an iterative user-centered design process, different types of vision enhancements and visual and audio cues, such as magnification, arrows, and beeps, will be designed and compared. These enhancements and cues will highlight salient information in the environment and increase its accessibility. Four navigation tasks will be addressed: avoiding obstacles in one's path, navigating elevation changes, reading signs, and wayfinding to a specified destination. For each task, one or more functional prototypes will be implemented and evaluated in naturalistic settings with involvement of members of the target user community. Based on the findings, guidelines for the use of visual vs. audio cues for different kinds of low vision conditions will be promulgated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.