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Augmented reality (AR) systems that enhance visual capabilities could make text and other fine details more accessible for low vision users, improving independence and quality of life. Prior work has begun to investigate the potential of assistive AR, but recent advancements enable new AR visualizations and interactions not yet explored in the context of assistive technology. In this paper, we follow an iterative design process with feedback and suggestions from seven visually impaired participants, designing and testing AR magnification ideas using the Microsoft HoloLens. Participants identified several advantages to the concept of head-worn magnification (e.g., portability, privacy, ready availability), and to our AR designs in particular (e.g., a more natural reading experience and the ability to multitask). We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this AR magnification approach and summarize lessons learned throughout the process.

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The recent miniaturization of cameras has enabled finger-based reading approaches that provide blind and visually impaired readers with access to printed materials. Compared to handheld text scanners such as mobile phone applications, mounting a tiny camera on the user's own finger has the potential to mitigate camera framing issues, enable a blind reader to better understand the spatial layout of a document, and provide better control over reading pace. A finger-based approach, however, also introduces the need to guide the reader in physically navigating a document, such as tracing along lines of text. While previous work has proposed audio and haptic directional finger guidance for this purpose, user studies of finger-based reading have not provided an in-depth performance analysis of the finger-based reading process. To further investigate the effectiveness of finger-based sensing and feedback for reading printed text, we conducted a controlled laboratory experiment with 19 blind participants, comparing audio and haptic directional finger guidance within an iPad-based testbed. As a small follow-up, we asked four of those participants to return and provide feedback on a preliminary wearable prototype called HandSight. Findings from the controlled experiment show similar performance between haptic and audio directional guidance, although audio may offer an accuracy advantage for tracing lines of text. Subjective feedback also highlights trade-offs between the two types of guidance, such as the interference of audio guidance with speech output and the potential for desensitization to haptic guidance. While several participants appreciated the direct access to layout information provided by finger-based exploration, important concerns also arose about ease of use and the amount of concentration required. We close with a discussion on the effectiveness of finger-based reading for blind users and potential design improvements to the HandSight prototype.

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On-body interaction, which employs the user's own body as an interactive surface, offers several advantages over existing touchscreen devices: always-available control, an expanded input space, and additional proprioceptive and tactile cues that support non-visual use. While past work has explored a variety of approaches such as wearable depth cameras, bio-acoustics, and infrared reflectance (IR) sensors, these systems do not instrument the gesturing finger, do not easily support multiple body locations, and have not been evaluated with visually impaired users (our target). In this paper, we introduce TouchCam, a finger wearable to support location-specific, on-body interaction. TouchCam combines data from infrared sensors, inertial measurement units, and a small camera to classify body locations and gestures using supervised learning. We empirically evaluate TouchCam's performance through a series of offline experiments followed by a realtime interactive user study with 12 blind and visually impaired participants. In our offline experiments, we achieve high accuracy (>96%) at recognizing coarse-grained touch locations (e.g., palm, fingers) and location-specific gestures (e.g., tap on wrist, left swipe on thigh). The follow-up user study validated our real-time system and helped reveal tradeoffs between various on-body interface designs (e.g., accuracy, convenience, social acceptability). Our findings also highlight challenges to robust input sensing for visually impaired users and suggest directions for the design of future on-body interaction systems.

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