Bappy Scenario & Persona
How hard is it to navigate the world without our eyes? While this question is always hard to answer for people who are still able to see, it is still not a yes or no question for people who are visually impaired. While some of them have a really hard time to navigate the world independently, others were able to live a life that is almost identical to someone who has the sense of sight. There are natural ways that people have discovered to overcome part of the disability of being blind but there are also some technological advancements that could also empower someone who is visually impaired. The device I am proposing is an electronic mobility device that enables anyone who is visually impaired to navigate the streets with a better sense of their surrounding.
Sarah is a 35 year old accountant who is working at an organization in Manhattan. Her sight has been deteriorating since she was 13 and by the age of 18 she was completely blind. But this did not stop her from getting a degree in accounting and being employed at a well recognized company. There are many things that Sarah is interested in and one of the most important hobbies to her is playing her violin. However, she is mostly interested in music because she shifted to indoor activities since she lost her vision. Another thing that changed is that her other senses were much sharper than anyone who could see, which enabled her to excel at music and other activities that include using nonvisual senses.
Like any other person who is blind, Sarah faces some difficulties in navigating the street on her own. Although it varies between every person who is visually impaired how much difficulties they have when walking or doing outdoor activities, some of them have been able to acquire certain sophisticated tricks that would make it easier for them to do most of their desired activities. But Sarah was not one of them and she has always wanted to be independent. She believes that life is not going to move on for her if she was dependent on someone else and she will drown the whole ship with both of them in it if she depended on someone for every time she left her house.
A device that works like the echolocation of the bat could be a great solution for her as she lives all of her life without lights. It is known that what we see is a mere reflection of light on objects which our eyes absorb and give to our brain as data but the brain transforms them back into objects and people. So seeing is basically the ability of the brain to transfer data into shapes and locations. Some people have been able to “see” with their ears as they use echolocation just like the bats and are able to know the presence of a certain object in a specific location while saying that the object should be bigger than a softball and the location could be detected up to 50 feet away. Others, however, were not yet able to acquire a similar capability of recognizing the presence of objects around them and how far they actually are. And so in this case the device could work as a good translator between the objects in the surrounding environment and the brain, which will be able to recognize the data and know how far an object is just by the vibration on parts of the body skin.
This device could also work even better for people who have poor eyesight and also do not have a good hearing ability. While this is probably not very common, some people still do not have both senses working properly. Having that will restrain them from being able to learn the echolocation technique other visually impaired people are currently using. In this case the device could be an excellent source of information to the brain.
Another application for it in the field of disabilities could be for people who are deaf and want to play sports or do specific activities in which it is necessary to know if there is an object or a person behind them. This device will then be of only 180° instead of 360° as it will work as a replacement of how we can hear an object or person behind us only.
For Sarah the most ideal experience would be having her able to navigate the streets with her hands in her pocket and without having other people even notice she is blind. Although this might not be the best thing for her as they might expect her to be “seeing” more things than she actually does, I just mean that she can have the same confidence as someone who can see in navigating the streets. To deliver this confidence, the device should enable someone to be completely dependent on vibration speed according to distance, being easy to put on or take off and also having an appealing look that is almost unrecognizable by anyone as anything other than a belt or anything else that is wearable.
It is hard to know how this could replace sight since it only detects objects at the surrounding distance without translating their shapes, colors and material. However, it should still be an amazing thing to depend on and be able to recognize the presence of anything around her at 360° without using her eyes. The device will surely need some calibration before being used, but once the person adapts with the vibration speed and direction it should be very easy to use.
This device should also be inexpensive considering that most electronic mobility devices are extremely expensive. It should also have a GPS for navigation, which enables the visually impaired person to be able to know the directions they are supposed to walk to as well. While this device might not be a replacement for the cane or the dog upon which most people who are blind depend, it could be an essential addition to them having the three of them make the data that transmits to the brain much more accessible and clearer to be shaping the specific environment and objects around them and how they relate to the user.
How hard is it to navigate the world without our eyes? While this question is always hard to answer for people who are still able to see, it is still not a yes or no question for people who are visually impaired. While some of them have a really hard time to navigate the world independently, others were able to live a life that is almost identical to someone who has the sense of sight. There are natural ways that people have discovered to overcome part of the disability of being blind but there are also some technological advancements that could also empower someone who is visually impaired. The device I am proposing is an electronic mobility device that enables anyone who is visually impaired to navigate the streets with a better sense of their surrounding.
Sarah is a 35 year old accountant who is working at an organization in Manhattan. Her sight has been deteriorating since she was 13 and by the age of 18 she was completely blind. But this did not stop her from getting a degree in accounting and being employed at a well recognized company. There are many things that Sarah is interested in and one of the most important hobbies to her is playing her violin. However, she is mostly interested in music because she shifted to indoor activities since she lost her vision. Another thing that changed is that her other senses were much sharper than anyone who could see, which enabled her to excel at music and other activities that include using nonvisual senses.
Like any other person who is blind, Sarah faces some difficulties in navigating the street on her own. Although it varies between every person who is visually impaired how much difficulties they have when walking or doing outdoor activities, some of them have been able to acquire certain sophisticated tricks that would make it easier for them to do most of their desired activities. But Sarah was not one of them and she has always wanted to be independent. She believes that life is not going to move on for her if she was dependent on someone else and she will drown the whole ship with both of them in it if she depended on someone for every time she left her house.
A device that works like the echolocation of the bat could be a great solution for her as she lives all of her life without lights. It is known that what we see is a mere reflection of light on objects which our eyes absorb and give to our brain as data but the brain transforms them back into objects and people. So seeing is basically the ability of the brain to transfer data into shapes and locations. Some people have been able to “see” with their ears as they use echolocation just like the bats and are able to know the presence of a certain object in a specific location while saying that the object should be bigger than a softball and the location could be detected up to 50 feet away. Others, however, were not yet able to acquire a similar capability of recognizing the presence of objects around them and how far they actually are. And so in this case the device could work as a good translator between the objects in the surrounding environment and the brain, which will be able to recognize the data and know how far an object is just by the vibration on parts of the body skin.
This device could also work even better for people who have poor eyesight and also do not have a good hearing ability. While this is probably not very common, some people still do not have both senses working properly. Having that will restrain them from being able to learn the echolocation technique other visually impaired people are currently using. In this case the device could be an excellent source of information to the brain.
Another application for it in the field of disabilities could be for people who are deaf and want to play sports or do specific activities in which it is necessary to know if there is an object or a person behind them. This device will then be of only 180° instead of 360° as it will work as a replacement of how we can hear an object or person behind us only.
For Sarah the most ideal experience would be having her able to navigate the streets with her hands in her pocket and without having other people even notice she is blind. Although this might not be the best thing for her as they might expect her to be “seeing” more things than she actually does, I just mean that she can have the same confidence as someone who can see in navigating the streets. To deliver this confidence, the device should enable someone to be completely dependent on vibration speed according to distance, being easy to put on or take off and also having an appealing look that is almost unrecognizable by anyone as anything other than a belt or anything else that is wearable.
It is hard to know how this could replace sight since it only detects objects at the surrounding distance without translating their shapes, colors and material. However, it should still be an amazing thing to depend on and be able to recognize the presence of anything around her at 360° without using her eyes. The device will surely need some calibration before being used, but once the person adapts with the vibration speed and direction it should be very easy to use.
This device should also be inexpensive considering that most electronic mobility devices are extremely expensive. It should also have a GPS for navigation, which enables the visually impaired person to be able to know the directions they are supposed to walk to as well. While this device might not be a replacement for the cane or the dog upon which most people who are blind depend, it could be an essential addition to them having the three of them make the data that transmits to the brain much more accessible and clearer to be shaping the specific environment and objects around them and how they relate to the user.
This one has only 2 ultrasonic sensors and vibrating motors positioned in the front and on the right
Interview and user testing with Mike and Valerie
The dog and the cane basically have the same function as they both detect obstacles, holes, curves or stairs on the way.
The difference between them is that with the cane you bust into the object while the dog gives a better sense of the surrounding.
Visually impaired people usually do not use both of them together so it is either the dog or the cane
Some of the similar things that were heard of is a device close to a pulsar that is mounted on the neck (also using vibrating motor)
Mike believes the vibrating motor is the best way that can transfer the data to the mind as the smelling and tasting are probably not that helpful and the hearing is already overloaded.
He believes no device will replace the cane or the dog
He is also not trusting technology that much (he says it might switch off at any time and also because he was born blind and he has already spent his whole life and was able to figure out his way through it so he does not want to replace what he has)
He recommended that the device can be best for people with low vision as they will adapt more to it and also if they lose their vision they will have a sense of how objects vibrate according to their distance
The worst problems for Mike and Valerie in navigating the streets are the pedestrians, venders, basement doors, construction noise and not knowing where the cars are coming from if they are walking parallel to the street
Mike believes the GPS will not be useful as they use the phone GPS and it will take a whole new interface to be created in order to make it work (it needs to be with sound and then if the device replies through the headphones it could be loud around them so they will not hear what is being said and they might miss their location.
What was sure is that every person who loses their sight has a different strategy of navigating the world and that makes it difficult to make a device that unifies their strategies.
Some of the things that help are the sounds in the streetlights (but they are just present in a couple of intersections at 23rd with 7th street and on 125th and 7th)
When asked what could be a helpful solution to a problem they have the idea of object identification was a very welcomed one.
However Valerie also said that if it is confusing it might not be the best (if for example she is searching for a bus stop and there are multiple signs that look similar then she might be standing under the wrong sign “do not cross” and waiting for the bus)
Valerie also noted that every one who is visually impaired is different in the sense that some of them were born blind while some of them had sight for a long time and depended on it. In her case she was seeing well for the first 17 years in her life and that made her a person who depends on the visuals. So she said until now if someone is describing something to her she still visualizes it as if she was seeing it with her eyes although this might be misleading to her.
They did not know about the Batman and they thought it is a very cool idea but it is not one that functions everywhere because environments are different and it is not something that they could depend on. But at the same time they still did not believe electronic devices are the best replacement or solution to the problem.
They both agreed that it will not solve the problem but it could definitely help in assisting people and also maybe specific ones more (if someone is also deaf or if they have a deteriorating eyesight but they know blindness is inevitable then it could be of great assistance to them)
I did a mistake only a beginner makes which is that the size of the belt was not going to fit Mike. He tried the hand-mounted piece for the short range but he said it was not that useful as he will still have to touch afterwards to know where exactly the thing is. When they both held the belt in their hands they could both feel the difference of the distance an object was close to or away from and they said it will definitely help identify the distance an object is away from them.
But they both also agreed that if it looks stupid then no one will want to wear it and they mentioned an example of someone who did something that is close to that but it was a helmet so no one actually liked the idea.
But overall they liked the idea and they gave me some references I should look at and also some names of organizations who do that and also who to be looking for there (the rehabilitation team as they will have all the information about the different types of blind people rather than getting the opinion of everyone individually. Mike even gave me his card at the end and told me to contact him if I needed anything else.
I later had another meeting with Marie and J. C. who work at the Helen Keller organisation and they are from the rehabilitation and orientation department. This was also advised by Mike and Valerie since they said we know what we have experienced but people who work in the rehabilitation or orientation have seen much more cases that are different and have different needs.
The image below is for different types of canes for different levels of visual disability. The one with the big round base is for scratching it to the ground and it is actually rotating to be smooth with the person is moving it right and left.
The other one with the smaller tip is one for people who are not completely blind but they still cannot see very well so they do not make the cane touch the ground it is more of a warning to other people.
The image below is for different types of canes for different levels of visual disability. The one with the big round base is for scratching it to the ground and it is actually rotating to be smooth with the person is moving it right and left.
The other one with the smaller tip is one for people who are not completely blind but they still cannot see very well so they do not make the cane touch the ground it is more of a warning to other people.
Here is also a third type of cane which is the one with the small tip that is more professional and it has the same function of the one with the big round tip but it is for people who are more experienced.
There is also a device for recording and playing sound that is for beginners and there is another one that is not in the picture which is for professionals and it is much smaller but it is mostly just for recording.
There is also a device for recording and playing sound that is for beginners and there is another one that is not in the picture which is for professionals and it is much smaller but it is mostly just for recording.