International journal of advanced smart convergence

The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication (한국인터넷방송통신학회)
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Exploring Low-Cost Grid-based Tactile Instruments for Understanding and Reproducing Shapes for People with Visual Impairments

  • Yeojin Kim (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University) ;
  • Jiyeon Han (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University) ;
  • Uran Oh (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University)
  • Received : 2023.07.21
  • Accepted : 2023.08.07
  • Published : 2023.09.30
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Abstract

While tools exist for blind people to understand shapes, these are not commercially available nor affordable and often require the assistance of sighted people. Thus, we designed two low-cost grid-based tactile tools using toggle buttons (TogGrid) and cotton balls (CottonGrid). To assess the potential of these as an educational tool, we conducted a user study with 12 people with visual impairments where they were asked to understand and reproduce shapes under different conditions. Although CottonGrid is relatively cheap and easy to make, findings show that TogGrid was perceived to be better in terms of perceived easiness, task completion time, accuracy, and preference in general. Particularly, participants valued TogGrid for enabling them to identify and correct errors. Based on the findings, we provide implications for utilizing toggle buttons for designing educational instruments for learning and expressing shapes for blind people.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the MSIT(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC(Information Technology Research Center) support program(IITP-2023-2020-0-01460) supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation). Also, this work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (No. NRF2021R1F1A105278611).

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