This thesis describes the process of designing a system for visually impaired users to identify objects. Smartphones are empowering visually impaired people by providing independence. The two major mobile operating systems, Android and iOS, both include screen reading software. By enabling this feature, the content of the screen is read out loud and the way of interaction is changed. These screen readers have been further investigated to optimize the user experience. Furthermore, several options for identifying objects have been explored. The system has been evaluated by over a hundred blind and visually impaired users. This thesis presents how the design of the system was iteratively improved and in which way it is now being used. / Denna avhandling beskriver processen med att utforma ett system för synskadade användare för att identifiera objekt. Smartphones ger upphov till synskadade genom att ge oberoende. De två stora mobila operativsystemen, Android och iOS, båda innehåller skärmläsningsprogram. Genom att aktivera denna funktion läses skärmens innehåll högt och interaktionsvägen har ändrats. Dessa skärmsläsare har vidare undersökt användarupplevelsen. Dessutom har flera alternativ för att identifiera objekt undersökts. Systemet har utvärderats av över hundra blinda och synskadade användare. Avhandlingen presenterar hur systemets utformning har förbättrats och på vilket sätt den nu används.

The goal of the proposed device and software architecture is to apply the functionality of mixed reality (MR) in order to make a virtual environment that is more accessible to the visually-impaired. We propose a glove-based system for MR that will use finger and hand movement tracking along with tactile feedback so that the visually-impaired can interact with and obtain a more detailed sense of virtual objects and potentially even virtual environments. The software architecture makes current MR frameworks more accessible by augmenting the existing software and extensive 3D model libraries with both the interfacing of the glove-based system and the audibly navigable user interface (UI) of a virtual environment we have developed. We implemented a circuit with finger flexion/extension tracking for all 5 fingers of a single hand and variable vibration intensities for the vibromotors on all 5 fingertips of a single hand. The virtual environment can be hosted on a Windows 10 application. The virtual hand and its fingers can be moved with the system's input and the virtual fingertips touching the virtual objects trigger vibration motors (vibromotors) to vibrate while the virtual objects are being touched. A rudimentary implementation of picking up and moving virtual objects inside the virtual environment is also implemented. In addition to the vibromotor responses, text to speech (TTS) is also implemented in the application for when virtual fingertips touch virtual objects and other relevant events in the virtual environment.

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Yes / The development of many tools and technologies for people with visual impairment has become a major priority in the field of assistive technology research. However, many of these technology advancements have limitations in terms of the human aspects of the user experience (e.g., usability, learnability, and time to user adaptation) as well as difficulties in translating research prototypes into production. Also, there was no clear distinction between the assistive aids of adults and children, as well as between “partial impairment” and “total blindness”. As a result of these limitations, the produced aids have not gained much popularity and the intended users are still hesitant to utilise them. This paper presents a comprehensive review of substitutive interventions that aid in adapting to vision loss, centred on laboratory research studies to assess user-system interaction and system validation. Depending on the primary cueing feedback signal offered to the user, these technology aids are categorized as visual, haptics, or auditory-based aids. The context of use, cueing feedback signals, and participation of visually impaired people in the evaluation are all considered while discussing these aids. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations is suggested to assist the scientific community in addressing persisting challenges and restrictions faced by both the totally blind and partially sighted people.

Design and evaluation of real-time descriptive mediation (RTDM) for live aquarium exhibits was proposed to support the participation of visitors with and without vision loss. RTDM was developed to address learning, entertainment, restorative, and social motivations. Data was collected during a lab study with adults to get feedback about the RTDM and compare it to traditional docent presentations and audio tours. Findings show that the RTDM made it possible for participants to address their exhibit motivations and led to specific personal and social aspects of participation. A majority of participants with and without vision loss reported that the RTDM was supportive of their motivations and perceived it to be more effective at supporting learning, social, and restoration motivations compared to audio tour and docent mediation. The main contributions of this work are in: 1) developing evidence-based information design criteria for mediation at live animal exhibits; 2) demonstrating that mediation designed to support exhibit motivations can facilitate participation in adults with and without vision loss; and 3) validating participation as a design goal.

Syftet med studien att undersöka hur gitarrlärare arbetar med synskadade elever i klassisk gitarrundervisning, målet är att underlätta lärares arbete när det gäller att undervisa just synskadade elever i klassisk gitarr. Studiens forskningsfrågor är: Vad arbetar gitarrlärare med i sin undervisning med synskadade gitarrelever? På vilka sätt arbetar gitarrlärare med synskadade elever? Varför väljer lärare att arbeta som de gör? Studiens metod utgörs av intervjuer med lärare och elever samt och observationer av övningar och andra hjälpmedel lärare använder i sitt arbete med synskadade elever och hur de arbetar med dessa hjälpmedel. I bakgrundskapitlet beskrivs hur blinda och synsvaga elever i allmänhet, har en stor potential för att utbilda sig i musik och att lära sig spela gitarr. I resultatet presenteras en rad arbetssätt såsom: att tejpa baksidan av greppbrädan, att visa genom att låta eleven känna på lärarens händer, vänsterhandens orientering på greppbrädan, att stå vid ljus, att öva på att ta fram olika spännande ljud från gitarren, att begränsa stor vänsterhandsrörelse, att utgå från inspelade lektioner och Braille-partitur, att det skall vara tyst och lugn i rummet när man övar och saker att betänka när man övar. En slutsats som dras är att klassisk gitarr kan bidra till blinda barns fascination av ljud. Diskussionen utgörs av en vidare reflektion över studien, där uppsatsens resultat kopplas samman med bakgrundslitteraturen. / The purpose of the study is to investigate how guitar teacher works with visually impaired students in classical guitar teaching, the goal is to facilitate the work of teachers when it comes to teaching visually impaired students in classical guitar. The study's research questions are: What kind of work do guitar teachers do teaching classic guitar with visually impaired students? How do they work with visually impaired students? Why do they work as they do? The study's methodology consists of interviews with teachers and students and observations of guitar lessons with visually impaired students. The background chapter describes how blind and visually impaired students in general, have a great potential to educate themselves in music and learning playing the guitar. The result presents a series of techniques such as: taping the back of the fingerboard, showing how to play by letting students feel the teacher's hands, left hand orientation, positioning in light, practice on the development of exciting sounds of the guitar, limiting left hand motions, using recorded lessons and Braille scores, serenity in the room and overall things to consider when practicing. One conclusion is that the classical guitar can stimulate blind children's fascination of sound. The discussion consists of a reflection of the study, with the results linked to background literature.

Nous avons évalué les performances et limitations de différents capteurs susceptibles d’aider à orienter un déficient visuel : GPS, magnétomètre, gyroscope, accéléromètre, baromètre ainsi que la façon de les combiner pour guider efficacement les déficients visuels dans trois contextes différents : le milieu urbain, la randonnée et les intérieurs. Nous avons réalisé des prototypes se plaçant sur la hanche ou tenus à la main fournissant une information présentée sous la forme d’un cap et d’une distance au point à atteindre. Cette information se réactualise en temps réel en fonction des changements de position ou d’orientation de la personne.Nous avons montré par des tests en situation réelle sur des parcours urbains et pédestres de plusieurs kilomètres, effectués par différents déficients visuels, l’efficacité de cette approche très différente de celle du guidage automobile. Les tests ont été également effectués dans des zones où les capteurs sont perturbés : forêts denses ou rues avec des bâtiments hauts (signal GPS perturbé), à proximité des lignes électriques (magnétomètre perturbé), etc. Le cas le plus complexe est celui des intérieurs (stations du métro, centres commerciaux) où le signal GPS est absent. Notre approche ne fait appel à aucun équipement du lieu (de type bornes Bluetooth ou Wifi) et utilise uniquement une cartographie préalable ou relevée sur le site. Nous sommes parvenus à des guidages fonctionnels sur quelques centaines de mètres sous certaines conditions : entrainement de l’utilisateur afin d’assimiler les spécificités du langage de la locomotion utilisé pour le guidage et apprentissage des stratégies de déplacement évitant le disfonctionnement de la centrale inertielle. Nous sommes en mesure de proposer à l’issue de ce travail un outil pouvant être diffusé auprès des utilisateurs avec des solutions fiables pour le milieu urbain et la randonnée. Pour les intérieurs les développements complémentaires se poursuivent et ne seront proposés qu’en béta-test. Cet outil va également être proposé pour initier les déficients visuels non autonomes à des randonnées simples afin de tenter de faire naître l’envie d’améliorer son autonomie. / We have evaluated the possibilities and the limitations of different sensors able to help to the orientation of the visually impaired: GPS, magnetometer, gyroscope, accelerometers, and barometers and also the way to mix their information for guiding efficiently the visually impaired in three different contexts: urban areas, hiking and indoor areas. We have implemented some belt mounted and hand held prototypes giving the information in the way of “heading” and “distance” to the destination to reach. This information is updated in real time taking into consideration the change of the position and orientation of the person. We have shown, during real situation tests, in urban pedestrian paths and hiking circuits of many kilometers done by different visually impaired people, the efficiency of this approach which is very different to the car navigation. The tests have been run including zones where the sensors data is perturbed: dense forest or big buildings in urban areas (GPS signal perturbed), proximity to electrical lines (magnetometer data perturbed), etc. The most complicated case is the indoor navigation (metro stations and commercial centers) where the GPS signal is not available. Our approach does not require any equipment apparatus in the building (such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi hotspots) and uses just a previous cartography or a cartography done in situ. We have achieved functional guidance in few hundred meters under certain conditions: the training of the user in order to make him understand the specific characteristics of the mobility language used for the navigation and the learning of the strategies of displacement in order to avoid the failure of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). We are in position to offer, at the end of this work, one tool which can be distributed to the users with reliable solutions for the urban areas and the hiking. For the indoor navigation, complementary development is carrying on and it will be proposed just like beta-test version. This tool is also going to be proposed for initiating non-autonomous visually impaired people to easy treks in order to try to make them want to improve their autonomy.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 A construcao das identidades sociais.pdf: 1731210 bytes, checksum: 029758c60b24ad8711ac10422f7496f6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aims at investigating the construction of social identities of the visually impaired students when they are talking about texts, focusing three fundamental interrelated aspects which are: 1. How the visually impaired students see themselves; 2. Their interpretation of the way the society sees them; 3. How the visually impaired students see the sighted individuals. To collect the data, a reading group using the verbal protocol method was organized. According to Zanotto (1997), this method is a social-cognitive practice in which the readers share and negotiate the various readings. When these protocols were used, different social identities came up and could be identified through the analysis of the participants´positionings during the discoursive interaction process. This analysis is based on the positioning theory developed by Harré and Langenhove (1999). The different social identities built up by the visually impaired students, which could be identified in this analysis, are anchored in positive and negative evaluation. When the visually impaired students talk about themselves they evaluate themselves positively emphasizing their potencialities such as the capacity, autonomy and independence to accomplish daily tasks. On the other hand, when the visually impaired students interpret the way the society sees them, the former positive evaluation changes into a negative image related to the social stereotypes which contribute to build up their identity. They understand that the society sees them as incompetent and unable to accomplish the social tasks. Moreover, when they talk about the sighted individuals they also have a negative evaluation, since they see them as individuals who discriminate and who do not know their reality. The research concluded that that the social identities of the visual impaired students are built up from the positive and negative evaluations which are emphasized mainly by the social stereotypes that turn into serious learning problems in the reading classes / Esta pesquisa pretende investigar a construção das identidades sociais do aluno deficiente visual, nas conversas sobre textos, partindo de três pontos fundamentais imbricados entre si: 1. como o deficiente visual vê a si próprio; 2. a interpretação que o deficiente visual faz a respeito de como a sociedade o vê; e 3. como o deficiente visual vê o vidente. Para que fosse possível a coleta dos dados, houve a necessidade de organizar um grupo de leitura em que foi empregado o método do protocolo verbal em grupo. De acordo com Zanotto (1997), esse método é uma prática sócio-cognitiva na qual os leitores partilham e negociam as várias leituras. Durante o emprego desses protocolos, diferentes identidades sociais surgiram e puderam ser identificadas por meio da análise dos posicionamentos assumidos pelos participantes durante o processo de interação discursiva. Essa análise encontrou respaldo, principalmente, na teoria dos posicionamentos desenvolvida por Harré e Langenhove (1999). Nessa análise, pôde-se identificar que as diferentes identidades sociais, construídas pelos deficientes visuais, estão ancoradas em valorações positivas e negativas. O deficiente quando fala de si mesmo trabalha com valorações positivas que ressaltam suas potencialidades representadas na sua capacidade, autonomia e independência para a execução de tarefas diárias. Quando interpreta a forma como a sociedade o vê, essa valoração positiva dá lugar a uma imagem construída negativamente onde os estereótipos sociais marcam sua identidade. Ele interpreta que a sociedade o vê como incompetente, e incapaz de realizar tarefas sociais. Ao se referir ao vidente, o faz também a partir de valorações negativas, pois ele vê o vidente como alguém que o descrimina, desconhecendo sua realidade. Chega-se assim à conclusão que as identidades sociais do deficiente visual são construídas a partir de valorações positivas e negativas, marcadas principalmente, pelos estereótipos sociais e esses estereótipos se tornam um grave problema de aprendizagem nas aulas de leitura

A rede metroferroviária é constituída por um conjunto de estações, trens e vias que proporciona transporte de pessoas na região metropolitana. Por se caracterizar como um serviço público deve oferecer condições adequadas de utilização por todos os cidadãos, independentemente de sua condição física ou sensorial. A adaptação das estações e trens existentes, a construção de novas estações acessíveis e a aquisição de novos trens consideraram os avanços tecnológicos e de acessibilidade ao longo dos anos. Apesar disso, o elevado número de solicitações de auxílio por pessoas com deficiência visual pressupõe a existência de fatores que interferem ou impedem o uso independente do sistema metroferroviário. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo identificar tais fatores e propor recomendações para o desenvolvimento do projeto das instalações e dos serviços oferecidos como forma de melhorar as condições de percepção e facilitar a cognição das pessoas com deficiência visual nas diversas etapas da sua viagem. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualiquantitativa cuja estratégia está baseada na jornada do usuário com deficiência visual em estações e trens operados pelo Metrô na cidade de São Paulo, com diferentes graus de complexidade e condições de acessibilidade. A aplicação de métodos e técnicas da Avaliação Pós-Ocupação gerou evidências para elaboração do diagnóstico da acessibilidade da jornada do usuário, considerando os requisitos legais e normativos, as boas práticas verificadas, os dados levantados junto aos especialistas, pessoas-chave e usuários com deficiência visual. A identificação dos elementos de wayfinding permite dotá-los de características que facilitem sua percepção e, consequentemente, a orientação espacial das pessoas com deficiência visual, proporcionando segurança e independência. A sistematização das recomendações permite sugerir acréscimos às normas técnicas vigentes bem como auxiliar a atuação de planejadores, projetistas e gestores na realimentação do processo de projeto do sistema metroferroviário, relacionando a configuração dos ambientes à gestão das informações e aos serviços ofertados, uma vez que são partes integrantes de um mesmo contexto. / The subway network is constituted by a number of stations, trains and railways which provide transportation for people in the metropolitan region. As a public service, it should offer suitable conditions for all citizens, regardless of their physical or sensory conditions. The adaptation of existing stations and trains, the construction of new accessible stations and the purchase of new trains have taken into account technological advances and accessibility over the years. Nevertheless, the high number of requests for assistance by persons with visual impairment suggests the existence of factors that interfere with or prevent the independent use of the subway system. This research aims to identify such factors and present recommendations for the development of the design of the facilities and services offered as a way to improve the conditions of perception and cognition of people in various stages of their journey. This is a qualiquantitative research whose strategy is based on the journey of users with visual impairment in stations and trains operated by Metrô in the city of São Paulo, with varying degrees of complexity and accessibility conditions. The application of methods and techniques of Post-Occupancy Evaluation provided evidences for the diagnosis of the accessibility of the user\'s journey considering the legal and regulatory requirements, the best practices observed, the data collected by experts, key people and users with visual impairment. The identification of wayfinding elements favors features that facilitate their perception and, consequently, the spatial orientation of people with visual impairment, assuring safety and independence. The systematization of recommendations permits to suggest additions to existing technical standards as well as to assist the activities of planners, designers and managers in the feedback process of railroad transportation system design, relating the configuration of environments to the management of information and services offered, once they are an integral part of the same context.