Abstract
Touch is one of the most natural methods of navigation available to the blind. In this paper, we propose a method to enhance a person’s use of touch by placing range sensors coupled with vibrators throughout their body. This would allow them to be able to feel objects and obstacles in close proximity to them, without having to physically touch them. In order to make effective use of this vibrotactile approach, it is necessary to discern the perceptual abilities of a person wearing small vibrators on different parts of their body. To do this, we designed a shirt with small vibrators placed on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and ran an efficient staircase PEST algorithm to determine their sensitivities on those parts of their body.
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Palmer, F.G., Zhu, Z., Ro, T. (2012). Wearable Range-Vibrotactile Field: Design and Evaluation. In: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Penaz, P., Zagler, W. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7383. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31534-3_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31534-3_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31533-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31534-3
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