Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind

Spatial orientation and navigation depend primarily on vision. Blind people lack this critical source of information. To facilitate wayfinding and to increase the feeling of safety for these people, the “feelSpace belt” was developed. The belt signals magnetic north as a fixed reference frame via vi...

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Autores principales:	Charlotte Brandebusemeyer, Anna Ricarda Luther, Sabine U. König, Peter König, Silke M. Kärcher
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	blindness assistive technology vibrotactile belt safety orientation navigation Chemical technology TP1-1185
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2c5353a5d07d41c89bab8a7ae3f7ae0e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2c5353a5d07d41c89bab8a7ae3f7ae0e2021-11-11T19:18:56ZImpact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind10.3390/s212173841424-8220https://doaj.org/article/2c5353a5d07d41c89bab8a7ae3f7ae0e2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/21/7384https://doaj.org/toc/1424-8220Spatial orientation and navigation depend primarily on vision. Blind people lack this critical source of information. To facilitate wayfinding and to increase the feeling of safety for these people, the “feelSpace belt” was developed. The belt signals magnetic north as a fixed reference frame via vibrotactile stimulation. This study investigates the effect of the belt on typical orientation and navigation tasks and evaluates the emotional impact. Eleven blind subjects wore the belt daily for seven weeks. Before, during and after the study period, they filled in questionnaires to document their experiences. A small sub-group of the subjects took part in behavioural experiments before and after four weeks of training, i.e., a straight-line walking task to evaluate the belt’s effect on keeping a straight heading, an angular rotation task to examine effects on egocentric orientation, and a triangle completion navigation task to test the ability to take shortcuts. The belt reduced subjective discomfort and increased confidence during navigation. Additionally, the participants felt safer wearing the belt in various outdoor situations. Furthermore, the behavioural tasks point towards an intuitive comprehension of the belt. Altogether, the blind participants benefited from the vibrotactile belt as an assistive technology in challenging everyday situations.Charlotte BrandebusemeyerAnna Ricarda LutherSabine U. KönigPeter KönigSilke M. KärcherMDPI AGarticleblindnessassistive technologyvibrotactile beltsafetyorientationnavigationChemical technologyTP1-1185ENSensors, Vol 21, Iss 7384, p 7384 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	blindness assistive technology vibrotactile belt safety orientation navigation Chemical technology TP1-1185
spellingShingle	blindness assistive technology vibrotactile belt safety orientation navigation Chemical technology TP1-1185 Charlotte Brandebusemeyer Anna Ricarda Luther Sabine U. König Peter König Silke M. Kärcher Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
description	Spatial orientation and navigation depend primarily on vision. Blind people lack this critical source of information. To facilitate wayfinding and to increase the feeling of safety for these people, the “feelSpace belt” was developed. The belt signals magnetic north as a fixed reference frame via vibrotactile stimulation. This study investigates the effect of the belt on typical orientation and navigation tasks and evaluates the emotional impact. Eleven blind subjects wore the belt daily for seven weeks. Before, during and after the study period, they filled in questionnaires to document their experiences. A small sub-group of the subjects took part in behavioural experiments before and after four weeks of training, i.e., a straight-line walking task to evaluate the belt’s effect on keeping a straight heading, an angular rotation task to examine effects on egocentric orientation, and a triangle completion navigation task to test the ability to take shortcuts. The belt reduced subjective discomfort and increased confidence during navigation. Additionally, the participants felt safer wearing the belt in various outdoor situations. Furthermore, the behavioural tasks point towards an intuitive comprehension of the belt. Altogether, the blind participants benefited from the vibrotactile belt as an assistive technology in challenging everyday situations.
format	article
author	Charlotte Brandebusemeyer Anna Ricarda Luther Sabine U. König Peter König Silke M. Kärcher
author_facet	Charlotte Brandebusemeyer Anna Ricarda Luther Sabine U. König Peter König Silke M. Kärcher
author_sort	Charlotte Brandebusemeyer
title	Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
title_short	Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
title_full	Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
title_fullStr	Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
title_full_unstemmed	Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind
title_sort	impact of a vibrotactile belt on emotionally challenging everyday situations of the blind
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2c5353a5d07d41c89bab8a7ae3f7ae0e
work_keys_str_mv	AT charlottebrandebusemeyer impactofavibrotactilebeltonemotionallychallengingeverydaysituationsoftheblind AT annaricardaluther impactofavibrotactilebeltonemotionallychallengingeverydaysituationsoftheblind AT sabineukonig impactofavibrotactilebeltonemotionallychallengingeverydaysituationsoftheblind AT peterkonig impactofavibrotactilebeltonemotionallychallengingeverydaysituationsoftheblind AT silkemkarcher impactofavibrotactilebeltonemotionallychallengingeverydaysituationsoftheblind
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Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind

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