C Magnusson¹, K Rassmus-Gröhn¹, C Sjöström¹, H Danielsson²
¹Lund University, Design Sciences, Lund, Sweden; ²Linköping University, Swedish Institute of Disability Reasearch , Linköping, Sweden
We report results from a subset of an extensive study of the performance of blind persons in different haptic environments. Test tasks included in the study were recognition of simple geometrical objects, realistic VRML models, mathematical surfaces, a simplified traffic environment and a memory game. The tasks were tested by 25 blind users from both Italy and Sweden. The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance of blind persons in haptic environments of increasing complexity. The PHANToM haptic device was used in the study.
The outcome of the tests show that the blind test users are able to handle also quite complex objects and environments. The test results indicate that complex but realistic environments actually can be easier to handle than simpler but abstract test environments. The importance of appropriate haptic scanning is pointed out, and the need to develop a training methodology is discussed. An indication that proportions in different direction can be difficult to judge accurately is obtained, as well as an indication that age and gender may influence test results in this kind of tests. The influence of blindness from birth appears less significant in this study.
The evidence from the tests when it concerns shape recognition versus orientation/navigation is somewhat conflicting. The test results support the conclusion that navigational tasks also in quite complex virtual surroundings can be handled by blind users. The evidence when it comes to shape identification is somewhat conflicting, as geometrical objects appear hard, while the more realistic VRML models appeared easier.
It has been shown that for the objects included in this test, the blind users are not greatly disturbed by the VRML approximation. Holes, unmodeled or poorly modeled parts however, makes it more difficult to understand objects, and if the imperfections are bad enough it may actually make it impossible for a user to obtain an understanding of an object.
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