@inproceedings{9b3c40d25eff42aca103d4e93a3033fa,
title = "Obstacle identification and avoidance using the {\textquoteleft}EyeCane{\textquoteright}: A tactile sensory substitution device for blind individuals",
abstract = "One of the main challenges facing the blind and visually impaired is independent mobility without being obtrusive to their environment. We developed a tactile low-cost finger-size sensory substitution device, the EyeCane, to aid the Blind in obstacle identification and avoidance in an unobtrusive manner. A simplified version of the EyeCane was tested on 6 sighted blindfolded participants who were na{\"i}ve to the device. After a short (2-3 min) training period they were asked to identify and avoid knee-to-waist-high (Side) and sidewalk-height (Floor) obstacles using the EyeCane. Avoidance included walking around or stepping over the obstacles. We show that in the fifth trial, participants correctly identified 87 ± 13.6% (mean ± SD) and correctly avoided 63 ± 15% of the side obstacles compared to 14% in the control condition (p < 4E-10 and p < 1.1E-05 respectively). For Floor obstacles, participants correctly identified 79 ± 18.8% and correctly avoided 41 ± %37.6 compared to the control{\textquoteright}s 10% (p < 0.002 and p < 0.06 respectively).",
keywords = "Assistive technology, Blind, Mobility, Obstacle avoidance, Sensory substitution",
author = "Galit Buchs and Shachar Maidenbaum and Amir Amedi",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.; 9th International Conference on Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications, EuroHaptics 2014 ; Conference date: 24-06-2014 Through 26-06-2014",
year = "2014",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-662-44196-1_13",
language = "English",
series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)",
publisher = "Springer Verlag",
pages = "96--103",
editor = "Malika Auvray and Christian Duriez and Christian Duriez and Malika Auvray",
booktitle = "Haptics",
address = "Germany",
}