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Developing a navigation aid for the frail and visually impaired

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Abstract

This paper describes the development of a new navigational aid for the frail, elderly, and visually impaired person. The users were involved both in the user requirements study and in the evaluation of different prototypes. The results show that the users were able to provide information on their current aid, the use situation, and their preference regarding different solutions, but they had difficulties to provide the detailed answers on technical solutions required by the technical development team. Further, prototype evaluations with users enabled the technical team to understand the users and their use situation.

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Acknowledgements

The PAM-AID project was financed by the European TIDE-program and was run as a co-operation between Zenon SA from Greece, Euroflex AB and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, University of Hertfordshire in England, and finally Trinity College and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) in Ireland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Factors Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296, Goteborg, Sweden

    Pontus Engelbrektsson & I. C. Marianne Karlsson

  2. National Council for the Blind of Ireland, Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Blaithin Gallagher & Heather Hunter

  3. University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK

    Helen Petrie & Ann-Marie O’Neill

Authors
  1. Pontus Engelbrektsson
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  2. I. C. Marianne Karlsson
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  3. Blaithin Gallagher
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  4. Heather Hunter
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  5. Helen Petrie
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  6. Ann-Marie O’Neill
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Correspondence to Pontus Engelbrektsson.

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Engelbrektsson, P., Karlsson, I.C.M., Gallagher, B. et al. Developing a navigation aid for the frail and visually impaired. Univ Access Inf Soc 3, 194–201 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-003-0088-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-003-0088-0

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