A Systematic Review of Wearable Devices for Orientation and Mobility of Adults With Visual Impairment and Blindness

Abstract

Wearable devices have been developed to improve the navigation of blind and visually impaired people. With technological advancements, the use and research of wearable devices have been increasing. This systematic review aimed to explore existing literature on technologies used in wearable devices intended to provide independent and safe mobility for visually impaired people. Searches were conducted in six electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, ACM Digital Library and SciELO). Our systematic review included 61 studies. The results show that the majority of studies used audio information as a feedback interface and a combination of technologies for obstacle detectionespecially the integration of sensor-based and computer vision-based technologies. The findings also showed the importance of including visually impaired individuals during prototype usage testing and the need for including safety evaluation which is currently lacking. These results have important implications for developing wearable devices for the safe mobility of visually impaired people.

Advancement in navigation technologies and their potential for the visually impaired: a comprehensive review

“…The Smart Vision module utilizes GPS or Wi-Fi in indoor environments to provide regular and successive updates of the user’s geographic coordinates via the geographic information system and navigation modules [ 35 ]. When GPS or Wi-Fi signals are unavailable, RFID tags and computer vision are employed as supplementary technologies.…”

A systematic review of extended reality (XR) for understanding and augmenting vision loss

“…To make the best use of these emerging technologies, it is valuable and timely to understand the state of this research and identify any shortcomings that are present. Previous reviews have highlighted a multitude of sensor-based technologies, ranging from smartphones ( Manjari et al., 2020 ) to VR headsets ( Htike et al., 2020 ; Aydmdoğan, Kavaklı, Şahin, Artal, & Ürey, 2021 ), which could be used to recognize commercial products ( Machado, Veras, Aires, & Britto Neto, 2021 ), detect obstacles and reduce navigation time ( Santos, Suzuki, Medola, & Vaezipour, 2021 ; Htike et al., 2020 ), or support social interactions ( Qiu et al., 2022 ). These articles also pointed to several gaps in the literature and suggested potential avenues for future research.…”

“…These articles also pointed to several gaps in the literature and suggested potential avenues for future research. On the technology side, some studies suggested to use smart clothing ( Santos et al., 2021 ) for nearby obstacle detection and to integrate devices with existing “Internet of Things” infrastructure ( Machado et al., 2021 ). On the behavioral side, Kelly and Smith (2011) lamented that most studies in their review lacked methodological rigor.…”

Review of Navigation Assistive Tools and Technologies for the Visually Impaired

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