Research for StepHear¶
What to research?¶
- What type of input do blind people give to their phone
- What type of input do they like the most/ is the easiest
- Do blind people always have a phone in their hands?
- How do blind people know where they are?
- Bluetooth beacon speaks, but blind person didn’t hear it
- Is it possible to use a bluetooth device to interface directly with the Stephear app (even while it is running in the background)
- Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Cable?
- Where to put the remote, as a bracelet, on your phone, on the blind stick?
- What kind of buttons do we need?
- What is the best kind of feedback for the user after an action has been sent
- How to determine if the device is easy enough for a wide age group
§1 Indexed problem¶
Poor visibility of the target user group makes the currently developed solution difficult to use, because it turns out that it takes a (relatively) too long time to use the existing solution in the field; clicking information buttons on an app. This has been concluded from the first public Stephear test in The Hague. To improve the user experience, there must therefore be a better interaction between the visually impaired and the source of information, a smartphone app with 4 buttons has been proven insufficient for this goal.
§2 Struggles with visual impairment¶
People with visual impairment have to deal with many difficult things during their day. Many of those problems are taken for granted by people who can see just fine.
§2.1 List of possible problems¶
- Access to Information - mail, computers, media, warning systems
- Access to transportation - to get anywhere at all
- Locating and obtaining blind services and training for Braille, shopping, cooking, and other independent living skills
- Obtaining or maintaining employment
- Lack of inclusive or accessible social activities and venues
- Insufficient finances for necessary adaptive devices, both technical and non-technical
- Challenges due to lack of counseling support to cope with vision loss
- Societal stigmas
- Often living in isolation
- Websites and software applications which are not designed or coded to work with assistive technologies, such as screen readers or screen magnifiers
§3 Tools for visual impairment¶
There already has been major work done on improving the experience of having vision loss, current existing solutions that we found are presented in the following paragraphs.
Microsoft Soundscape¶
Developed by Microsoft, this app is particularly innovative since it uses audio 3D technology to describe blind or visually impaired people their environment.
Soundscape enables them to better apprehend their surroundings, to call out intersections and to find their bearings in the city with great facility. And all of that by having their smartphone in their pocket: their hands remain free for their white cane or their guide dog!
Evelity¶
Developed by Okeenea Digital, this app is the first indoor wayfinding solution for people with a visual impairment to navigate in complex venues such as museums or universities! Evelity works like a GPS. Compatible with VoiceOver and TalkBack, the app provides audio instructions to blind and visually impaired people to guide them step by step. People with disabilities can easily find the reception desk or the classroom without needing to know the premises in advance.
WeWalk¶
Smart cain for visual impaired people. https://wewalk.io/en/about/
Ring¶
§ 4 Potential solutions¶
We have indexed the following solutions based on the research we done and the people we spoke in the first two weeks.
Voice control¶
Not reliable enough and has potential to steer the user in the wrong direction making it difficult for visually impaired people to go back to where they were; thus not fit for users with visual impaired people. Major work on voice recognition needs to be done first for this being reliable enough for usage. This has been identified by the founder of Stephear and own user tests with similar technology.
Remote control¶
A remote control seems to be a good solution as it is reliable (the user has control over the input i.e. pressing a button) and avoids having to use the telephone to read out the buttons:
Remote control on the stick¶
It is a remote control on a stick with the buttons up,down,left,right, return, enter. It also has a speaker / buzzer so when the blind person loses their stick the stick will make a noise to find it back.
Remote control on your finger¶
It is like a ring with the buttons up,down,left,right, return, enter. Also with maybe a speaker init to let the blind person know where it is when it is lost.
Potential solution:¶
Bluetooth esp32 remote control emulating a keyboard: https://github.com/turgu1/bt-keyboard/blob/master/README.m
This was considered but emulating a full keyboard seems excessive and might be difficult due to missing certain keys.
We then concluded that a seperate remote especially for the app seems the way to go as we would have complete control over the buttons and their actions. We concluded for now that usage with an app is the way forward due to simplicity but making it a standalone device which could interact with the stephear beacons itself could also be a good conclusion.
Smartwatch app¶
Lastly a smartwatch app has been evaluated but was quickly deemed unfit as it has the same fundamental problem as using a smartphone; could be difficult to operate due to the (small) screen and probably in practice also needs to use some kind of voice over to make the device usable for visually impaired people.