Automatically Adapting Home Lighting to Assist Visually Impaired Children

Freeman, Euan; Wilson, Graham; Brewster, Stephen

doi:10.1145/2971485.2996742

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another such sensory information is using partial vision to aid daily interactions. One such study, (Freeman et al, 2016), explores the potential of adaptive lighting to assist visually impaired children with their daily activities. The study proposes using a prototype that detects children's movements and objects' motion to trigger changes in lighting, providing natural and intuitive information to visually impaired children with minimal cognitive demands.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback Mechanism for Blind and Visually Impaired: A Review

Bastola,

Gluck,

Brinkley

2023

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study examines feedback mechanisms (FMs) to facilitate communication between the blind and visually impaired (BVI) and their surroundings or devices. Although previous research has led to the development of numerous accessible technologies for aiding BVI individuals in various scenarios, the widespread usage of these technologies has been limited by a lack of user acceptance. This is often due to the high associated cost and difficulty in processing information intuitively, causing a high cognitive load, resulting in the system being mostly unusable. The core of these issues lie within the FMs opted for the intended application. To address these issues, this literature review scrutinizes unique literature with various implementations of FMs, which are then classified based on their cognitive load requirements, associated cost, and applicable scenarios, thereby assisting in making informed decisions for optimal design.

show abstract

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback Mechanism for Blind and Visually Impaired: A Review

Bastola,

Gluck,

Brinkley

2023

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some studies have investigated lighting systems handled by people with disabilities. For instance, in (Freeman et al 2016) the control of the lighting system is for those who have residual vision. The work (Jeet et al 2015) proposes a solution based on voice control, but the commands to use are usually aimed at switching on/off the lights, but are not designed to check simply the status, which may be a useful activity for those who cannot see.…”

Section: Motivation and Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing assistive technology for getting more independence for blind people when performing everyday tasks: an auditory-based tool as a case study

Leporini

Rosellini

Forgione

2020

J Ambient Intell Human Comput

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Everyday activities and tasks should in theory be easily carried by everyone, including the blind. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been widely used for supporting solutions. However, the solutions can be problematic for the visually impaired since familiarity with digital devices is often required. Or, indeed the procedure can be perceived as fiddly or impractical particularly for repetitive tasks due to the number/type of steps required to complete the task. This paper introduces a simple audio-based tool aimed at supporting visually-impaired people in the seemingly simple activity of checking whether the light in a room is on or off. It is an example of potential low tech devices that can be designed without the need for specific skills or knowledge by the user, and that functions in a practical way. In this context, we discuss the main issues and considerations for totally blind users in identifying whether a light is switched on. The proposed prototype is based on a simple circuit and a form of auditory feedback which informs the user whether they are switching on or off the light. Two prototypes have been designed and built for two different kinds of installation. For the subsequent second prototype, three different versions are proposed to provide a blind person with further support in easily identifying the light status at home. The new design includes enhanced auditory feedback and modifications to the dimensions. The evaluation conducted by involving various groups of endusers revealed the usefulness of the proposed tool. In addition, a survey conducted with 100 visually-impaired people reported the limitations and difficulties encountered by the blind in using existing devices. Moreover, the study revealed the interest from 94% of the participants for a potential (new) basic tool integrable with the existing lighting system.This study gives a contribution in the ambient intelligence field by (1) showing how an auditory-based tool can be used to support totally blind people to check the lights in an autonomous and relatively simple way; (2) proposing an idea that can be exploited in other application cases that use light feedback; and (3) proposing seven potential recommendations for designing assistive technology tools and common everyday devices, based on information gathered from the online survey.

show abstract