Jing Su
Ashvin Goel
Khai N. Truong
ABSTRACT
Mapping applications on mobile devices have gained widespread popularity as a means for enhancing user mobility and ability to explore new locations and venues. Visually impaired users currently rely on computer text-to-speech or human-spoken descriptions of maps and indoor spaces. Unfortunately, speech-based descriptions are limited in their ability to succinctly convey complex layouts or spacial positioning.
This paper presents Timbremap, a sonification interface enabling visually impaired users to explore complex indoor layouts using off-the-shelf touch-screen mobile devices. This is achieved using audio feedback to guide the user's finger on the device's touch interface to convey geometry. Our user-study evaluation shows Timbremap is effective in conveying non-trivial geometry and enabling visually impaired users to explore indoor layouts.
- J. L. Alty and D. I. Rigas. Communicating graphical information to blind users using music: the role of context. In CHI '98: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 574--581, New York, NY, USA, 1998. ACM Press/Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- B. Blasch, W. Wiener, and R. Welsh. Foundations of orientation and mobility, second edition. In American Foundation for the Blind, pages 291--293, 1997.Google Scholar
- A. Crossan and S. Brewster. Multimodal trajectory playback for teaching shape information and trajectories to visually impaired computer users. ACM Trans. Access. Comput., 1(2):1--34, 2008. Google ScholarDigital Library
- T. Dingler, J. Lindsay, and B. N. Walker. Learnabiltiy of sound cues for environmental features: Auditory icons, earcons, spearcons, and speech. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Auditory Display, Paris, France, 2008.Google Scholar
- A. Hub, J. Diepstraten, and T. Ertl. Design and development of an indoor navigation and object identification system for the blind. In Assets '04: Proceedings of the 6th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility, pages 147--152, New York, NY, USA, 2004. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- D. Jacobson. Navigating maps with little or no sight: A novel audio-tactile approach. Technical report, 1998.Google Scholar
- S. K. Kane, J. P. Bigham, and J. O. Wobbrock. Slide rule: making mobile touch screens accessible to blind people using multi-touch interaction techniques. In Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility, pages 73--80, New York, NY, USA, 2008. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- F. C. Y. Li, D. Dearman, and K. N. Truong. Virtual shelves: interactions with orientation aware devices. In UIST '09: Proceedings of the 22nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, pages 125--128, New York, NY, USA, 2009. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- http://www.loadstone-gps.com/.Google Scholar
- J. M. Loomis, R. G. Golledge, R. L. Klatzky, J. M. Speigle, and J. Tietz. Personal guidance system for the visually impaired. In Assets '94: Proceedings of the first annual ACM conference on Assistive technologies, pages 85--91, New York, NY, USA, 1994. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. M. Loomis, R. G. Golledge, R. L. Klatzky, J. M. Speigle, and J. Tietz. Personal guidance system for the visually impaired. In Assets '94: Proceedings of the first annual ACM conference on Assistive technologies, pages 85--91, New York, NY, USA, 1994. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. R. Marston, J. M. Loomis, R. L. Klatzky, R. G. Golledge, and E. L. Smith. Evaluation of spatial displays for navigation without sight. 3(2):110--124, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- P. Parente and G. Bishop. Bats: The blind audio tactile mapping system. In ACMSE, 2003.Google Scholar
- D. A. Ross and B. B. Blasch. Wearable interfaces for orientation and wayfinding. In Assets '00: Proceedings of the fourth international ACM conference on Assistive technologies, pages 193--200, New York, NY, USA, 2000. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. N. Walker, A. Nance, and J. Lindsay. Spearcons: speech-based earcons improve navigation performance in auditory menus. pages 63--68, London, UK, 2006. Department of Computer Science, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, Department of Computer Science, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.Google Scholar
- J. Wilson, B. Walker, J. Lindsay, C. Cambias, and F. Dellaert. Swan: System for wearable audio navigation. In Wearable Computers, 2007 11th IEEE International Symposium on, pages 91--98, Oct. 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Yatani and K. N. Truong. Semfeel: a user interface with semantic tactile feedback for mobile touch-screen devices. In UIST '09: Proceedings of the 22nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, pages 111--120, New York, NY, USA, 2009. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- S. Zhao, P. Dragicevic, M. Chignell, R. Balakrishnan, and P. Baudisch. Earpod: eyes-free menu selection using touch input and reactive audio feedback. In CHI '07: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 1395--1404, New York, NY, USA, 2007. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Timbremap: enabling the visually-impaired to use maps on touch-enabled devices
Recommendations
Audible rendering of text documents controlled by multi-touch interaction
ICMI '12: Proceedings of the 14th ACM international conference on Multimodal interactionIn this paper, we introduce a novel interaction model for reading text documents depending on situated touch. This interaction modality targets Individuals with Blindness or Severe Visual Impairment (IBSVI). We aim to provide IBSVI with an effective ...
SmartTactMaps: a smartphone-based approach to support blind persons in exploring tactile maps
PETRA '15: Proceedings of the 8th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive EnvironmentsDespite increasing digitalization of our society many blind persons still have very limited access to predominantly pictorial information such as maps. In this paper we introduce a novel approach to improve the accessibility of maps for blind users by ...
A Personal Computer-based Approach for 3D Printing Accessible to Blind People
PETRA '17: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive EnvironmentsTactile materials play a major role in making information available to blind people and support their understanding for spatial matters. Due to the complex manual manufacturing process there is still a lack of suitable models for the visually impaired. ...
Comments