Perception of Inclined Plane While Walking without Vision

Abstract

164 blind Ss and 30 blindfolded, sighted controls walked and reported their perceptions of a pathway whose surface contained grades of 1, 2, 4, and 6° of incline and decline from the horizontal. It was found that the perception of incline and decline were independent perceptual attributes and that Ss were more sensitive to decline than to incline. The blind were more sensitive to decline than sighted controls. Various other inter-group differences between various portions of the blind population were found.

Nonvisual Cues for Aligning to Cross Streets

“…Accommodating a 10.5 degree initial misalignment would require a crosswalk that is at least 18.5 feet (5.6 m) wide. Because many crosswalks are longer than 50 feet and because veering from one’s initial heading can reasonably be assumed (Rouse & Worchel, 1955; Cratty, 1967; Guth & LaDuke, 1994), even 4 degrees of misalignment could be a serious problem in the absence of information with which to adjust one’s heading, such as the sound of parallel traffic (Guth et al, 1989). In contrast, substantially greater misalignment may be tolerable at shorter crosswalks, such as the typical 12 foot (3.7 m) crosswalk at a single lane roundabout.…”

‘It’s a sort of echo...’: Sensory perception of the environment as an aid to tactile map design

“…Features sensed this way will not necessarily be appreciated as landmarks, but they may well help to confirm other sensory impressions. Cratty (1966) used artificial slopes to investigate the ability of visually-impaired people to perceive an inclined plane whilst walking and concluded that they were able to detect a slope of one degree or more, both uphill and downhill. The majority of people participating in the environmental perception fieldwork immediately sensed even a slight rise in ground level along paths.…”

Field experimentation of the RAMPE interactive auditive information system for the mobility of blind people in public transport : Final evaluation

“…Former studies and experiments about the blind pedestrian locomotion [2], [8], semi-directing interviews and the direct analysis by observations of intermodal urban moving (train/subway/bus) of the VIBP, enabled us to bring out their strategies of preparation and especially of moving. Their behavior is conditioned by three main preoccupations:…”