Abstract

Unfortunately for visual impaired people, our society is characterised by the exaltation of the image and audiovisual media with a strong visual component. In spite of this there are means already available to make possible a complete access to the visual culture, in particular to mass media. Accessible or universal design allows us sometimes to break the visual sense barriers (for people with impaired vision), and some other times to develop alternative senses (for blind people). Nevertheless, reality does not match the technical and technological possibilities available in present day society.

Abstract

Part 4: New Interaction Techniques; International audience; The paper presents a case of Smart Shoes that uses ultrasonic sensors to detect the obstacle in front of the user. Additionally, this shoe signals a user by tapping at the foot arch. An evaluative study of the Smart Shoes was conducted with (n = 31) users; (17) blind people, (9) low vision and (5) non-disabled users. The study was conducted to judge reliability of the Smart Shoes by evaluating it from (a) ratio of obstacles identified to total obstacles encountered, (b) distance of obstacle apprehension and (c) response time. The study was conducted in a controlled and definite environment. The results from the study illustrate this footwear to be 89.5% effective in detecting obstacles such as vehicles, people, furniture, footpaths, poles, and miscellaneous obstacles with a mean response time of 3.08 s. Users average distance of obstacle apprehension was 108 cm in regular mode and 50 cm in the crowd mode. The future research & evaluative studies will be conducted in actual operational/moving environments. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book