THE WALKING STRAIGHT MOBILE APPLICATION: HELPING THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED AVOID VEERING

TLDR

Visually impaired people rely on speech‑based GPS yet struggle with veering, and existing feedback systems are bulky. The study aimed to develop a smartphone‑based “Walking Straight” application to help visually impaired users maintain a straight path. The app uses built‑in smartphone sensors and compared continuous versus discrete non‑speech audio cues, selecting the most effective form for testing with nine blind participants. Results show that Walking Straight markedly reduced path deviation compared to guide dog or cane use, without altering walking pace.

Abstract

The visually impaired community still faces many challenges with safely navigating their environment. They rely heavily on speechbased GPS in addition to their usual guiding help. However, GPSbased systems do not help with veering issues, which affect the ability of the visually impaired to maintain a straight path. Some research systems provide feedback intended to correct veering, but these tend to employ bulky, custom hardware. In response, we implemented our “Walking Straight” application on an existing consumer device, taking advantage of the built-in sensors on smartphones. First, we investigated whether a continuous or discrete form of non-speech audio feedback was more effective in keeping participants on a straight path. The most effective form was then tested with nine blind participants. The promising results demonstrate that Walking Straight significantly reduced the participants’ deviationfrom astraight pathascompared totheir usual behaviour, e.g., with a guide dog or cane, without affecting their pace.