Assisted Navigation System for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

Visual impairment can be congenital, or acquired, and is classified as low vision or blindness. In both cases, the person passes through daily difficulties, such as the ability to recognize objects and people, which implies insecurity and mobility problems. Several assistive technologies have been developed over the years (walking sticks, guided dogs, and electronic devices that assist in mobility) aiming to contribute to the integration of the visually impaired into society and guarantee more independence. This work proposes a wearable echolocation system for obstacle detection through wireless sensing modules, which uses a microcontroller with information that allows determining the distance between obstacles and the user that is wearing the device. Moreover, it provides the user with tactile and auditory feedback related to this distance, enabling him to perceive the approach of objects or living beings, even without the ability to interpret visual signals. For this purpose, an experimental protocol was developed, which was carried out by visually impaired volunteers, with the approval of the ethics committee for studies with human beings (CAEE: 09844219.9.0000.5208), to assess usability and validate the prototype. The validation of the equipment was done through the statistical analysis of the results obtained from questionnaires applied to the volunteers submitted to the experiments. The results showed that 83.33% of the participants said they were at least satisfied with the mobility assistance provided by the prototype and 66.67% were at least satisfied with the confidence in the mobility promoted by the navigation assistant system developed in the first use of the equipment. The developed prototype was validated and its applicability as a navigation assistant for the visually impaired was verified. Ensuring easy use and freedom of movement, enabling improvement in the mobility of the individual.