Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Technological Trends in Improved Mobility of the Visually Impaired pp 335–354Cite as

A Context-Aware Voice Operated Mobile Guidance System for Visually Impaired Persons

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 688 Accesses

Part of the book series: EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing ((EAISICC))

Abstract

The most important travelling aid for the visually impaired person is still the white cane which is multifunctional, cheap and reliable. In studies about visually impaired person navigation, it has been noted that even a small amount of extra information about the environment has a remarkable positive impact for those persons. In this chapter, a mobile application named Mobile Vision is described. The Mobile Vision application, developed at the University of Mauritius, is an innovative android application that is used to augment a visually impaired person’s pedestrian experience with enough information so as to ease his movement from one location to another. Innovative interaction mechanisms have been developed in Mobile Vision to allow visually impaired persons to use the mobile phone. Using pre-loaded maps on the mobile device, environmental conditions and landmark information along their route are provided on the fly through simple explanatory voice cues. The application can advise the user where he/she is currently located and provide spoken directions to travel to a particular destination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Cardin, S., Vexo, F., & Thalmann, D. (2005). Wearable obstacle detection system for visually impaired people. In VR workshop on haptic and tactile perception of deformable objects (No. VRLAB-CONF-2005-019, p. 50).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dey, A. K., Abowd, G. D., & Wood, A. (1998). CyberDesk: A framework for providing self-integrating context-aware services. Knowledge-Based Systems, 11(1), 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, J. R., Ojeda, L. V., Wicker, D., Day, S., Howson, A., Lakshminarayanan, V., & Moroi, S. E. (2017). Head-mounted display technology for low-vision rehabilitation and vision enhancement. American Journal of Ophthalmology, 176, 26–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fallah, N., Apostolopoulos, I., Bekris, K., & Folmer, E. (2013). Indoor human navigation systems: A survey. Interacting with Computers, 25(1), 21–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helal, A., Moore, S. E., & Ramachandran, B. (2001). Drishti: An integrated navigation system for visually impaired and disabled. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Wearable Computers, 2001 (pp. 149–156). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Koley, S., & Mishra, R. (2012). Voice operated outdoor navigation system for visually impaired persons. International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, 3(2), 153–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pal, J., Viswanathan, A., Chandra, P., Nazareth, A., Kameswaran, V., Subramonyam, H., … O’Modhrain, S. (2017). Agency in assistive technology adoption: Visual impairment and smartphone use in Bangalore. In G. Mark, S. Fussell, C. Lampe, M. C. Schraefel, J. P. Hourcade, C. Appert, & D. Wigdor (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 5929–5940). New York, NY: ACM.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schilit, B. N., & Theimer, M. M. (1994). Disseminating active map information to mobile hosts. IEEE Network, 8(5), 22–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silman, F., Yaratan, H., & Karanfiller, T. (2017). Use of assistive technology for teaching-learning and administrative processes for the visually impaired people. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 13(8), 4805–4813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thüs, H., Chatti, M. A., Yalcin, E., Pallasch, C., Kyryliuk, B., Mageramov, T., & Schroeder, U. (2012). Mobile learning in context. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 4(5-6), 332–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari, R. (Ed.). (2012). Intelligent planning for mobile robotics: algorithmic approaches: algorithmic approaches. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yelamarthi, K., Haas, D., Nielsen, D., & Mothersell, S. (2010, August). RFID and GPS integrated navigation system for the visually impaired. In 2010 53rd IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS) (pp. 1149–1152). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zöllner, M., Huber, S., Jetter, H. C., & Reiterer, H. (2011, September). NAVI–a proof-of-concept of a mobile navigational aid for visually impaired based on the microsoft kinect. In IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 584–587). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digital Technologies, Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

    Kavi Kumar Khedo, Kishan Yashveer Bhugul & David Young Ten

Authors
  1. Kavi Kumar Khedo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kishan Yashveer Bhugul
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Young Ten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kavi Kumar Khedo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ARC4DigiT – Applied Research Center for Digital Transformation, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal

    Sara Paiva

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Khedo, K.K., Bhugul, K.Y., Ten, D.Y. (2020). A Context-Aware Voice Operated Mobile Guidance System for Visually Impaired Persons. In: Paiva, S. (eds) Technological Trends in Improved Mobility of the Visually Impaired. EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16450-8_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16450-8_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16449-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16450-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation