Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Head-Mounted Sensory Augmentation Device: Comparing Haptic and Audio Modality

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9793))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This paper investigates and compares the effectiveness of haptic and audio modality for navigation in low visibility environment using a sensory augmentation device. A second generation head-mounted vibrotactile interface as a sensory augmentation prototype was developed to help users to navigate in such environments. In our experiment, a subject navigates along a wall relying on the haptic or audio feedbacks as navigation commands. Haptic/audio feedback is presented to the subjects according to the information measured from the walls to a set of 12 ultrasound sensors placed around a helmet and a classification algorithm by using multilayer perceptron neural network. Results showed the haptic modality leads to significantly lower route deviation in navigation compared to auditory feedback. Furthermore, the NASA TLX questionnaire showed that subjects reported lower cognitive workload with haptic modality although both modalities were able to navigate the users along the wall.

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

Access this chapter

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 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight 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

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Kärcher, S.M., Fenzlaff, S., Hartmann, D., Nagel, S.K., König, P.: Sensory augmentation for the blind. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 6, 37 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kim, Y., Harders, M., Gassert, R.: Identification of vibrotactile patterns encoding obstacle distance information. IEEE Trans. Haptics 8(3), 298–305 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Flores, G., Kurniawan, S., Manduchi, R., Martinson, E., Morales, L.M., Sisbot, E.A.: Vibrotactile guidance for wayfinding of blind walkers. IEEE Trans. Haptics 8(3), 306–317 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Shoval, S., Borenstein, J., Koren, Y.: Auditory guidance with the NavBelt-a computerized travel aid for the blind. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. C Appl. Rev. 28(3), 459–467 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Holland, S., Morse, D.R., Gedenryd, H.: AudioGPS: spatial audio navigation with a minimal attention interface. Pers. Ubiquitous Comput. 6(4), 253–259 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bertram, C., Evans, M.H., Javaid, M., Stafford, T., Prescott, T.: Sensory augmentation with distal touch: the tactile helmet project. In: Lepora, N.F., Mura, A., Krapp, H.G., Verschure, P.F., Prescott, T.J. (eds.) Living Machines 2013. LNCS, vol. 8064, pp. 24–35. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Cassinelli, A., Reynolds, C., Ishikawa, M.: Augmenting spatial awareness with haptic radar. In: 10th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers, pp. 61–64 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Carton, A., Dunne, L.E.: Tactile distance feedback for fire-fighters: design and preliminary evaluation of a sensory augmentation glove. In: Proceedings of the 4th Augmented Human International Conference, pp. 58–64 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Marsalia, A.C.: Evaluation of vibrotactile alert systems for supporting hazard awareness and safety of distracted pedestrians, Master Thesis at Texas A&M University (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Marston, J.R., Loomis, J.M., Klatzky, R.L., Golledge, R.G.: Nonvisual route following with guidance from a simple haptic or auditory display. J. Vis. Impair. Blind. 101(4), 203–211 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hara, M., Shokur, S., Yamamoto, A., Higuchi, T., Gassert, R., Bleuler, H.: Virtual environment to evaluate multimodal feedback strategies for augmented navigation of the visually impaired. In: IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, pp. 975–978 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kaul, O.B., Rohs, M.: HapticHead: 3D guidance and target acquisition through a vibrotactile grid. In: Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 2533–2539 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Martinez, M., Constantinescu, A., Schauerte, B., Koester, D., Stiefelhagen, R.: Cognitive evaluation of haptic and audio feedback in short range navigation tasks. In: Miesenberger, K., Fels, D., Archambault, D., Peňáz, P., Zagler, W. (eds.) ICCHP 2014, Part II. LNCS, vol. 8548, pp. 128–135. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kerdegari, H., Kim, Y., Stafford, T., Prescott, T.J.: Centralizing bias and the vibrotactile funneling illusion on the forehead. In: Auvray, M., Duriez, C. (eds.) EuroHaptics 2014, Part II. LNCS, vol. 8619, pp. 55–62. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kerdegari, H., Kim, Y., Prescott, T.: Tactile language for a head-mounted sensory augmentation device. In: Wilson, S.P., Verschure, P.F., Mura, A., Prescott, T.J. (eds.) Living Machines 2015. LNCS, vol. 9222, pp. 359–365. Springer, Heidelberg (2015)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Denef, S., Ramirez, L., Dyrks, T., Stevens, G.: Handy navigation in ever-changing spaces: an ethnographic study of firefighting practices. In: Proceedings of the 7th ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, pp. 184–192 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ando, Y., Yuta, S.: Following a wall by an autonomous mobile robot with a sonar-ring. In: Proceedings 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol. 3, pp. 2599–2606 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kerdegari, H., Kim, Y., Prescott, T.: Head-mounted sensory augmentation device: designing a tactile language. IEEE Trans. Haptics PP(99), 1 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Sherrick, C.E., Rogers, R.: Apparent haptic movement. Percept. Psychophys. 1(6), 175–180 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kirman, J.H.: Tactile apparent movement: the effects of interstimulus onset interval and stimulus duration. Percept. Psychophys. 15(1), 1–6 (1974)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Hart, S.G., Staveland, L.E.: Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of Empirical and Theoretical Research. In: Hancock, P.A., Meshkati, N. (eds.) Human Mental Workload, pp. 239–250. Elsevier, North Holland Press, Amsterdam (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Freire, A.L., Barreto, G.A., Veloso, M., Varela, A.T.: Short-term memory mechanisms in neural network learning of robot navigation tasks: a case study. In: 6th Latin American Robotics Symposium (LARS), no. 4 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Zou, A.-M., Hou, Z.-G., Fu, S.-Y., Tan, M.: Neural networks for mobile robot navigation: a survey. In: Wang, J., Yi, Z., Żurada, J.M., Lu, B.-L., Yin, H. (eds.) ISNN 2006. LNCS, vol. 3972, pp. 1218–1226. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  24. Ando, B., Baglio, S., Marletta, V., Valastro, A.: A haptic solution to assist visually impaired in mobility tasks. IEEE Trans. Hum. Mach. Syst. 45(5), 641–646 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the subjects for their help in data collection for this study. This work was supported by the University of Sheffield Cross-Cutting Directors of Research and Innovation Network (CCDRI), Search and Rescue 2020 project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Robotics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Hamideh Kerdegari & Tony J. Prescott

  2. Department of Mechatronics, MCI, Innsbruck, Austria

    Yeongmi Kim

Authors
  1. Hamideh Kerdegari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yeongmi Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tony J. Prescott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hamideh Kerdegari .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol , Bristol, United Kingdom

    Nathan F. Lepora

  2. Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain

    Anna Mura

  3. University of Lincoln , London, United Kingdom

    Michael Mangan

  4. Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain

    Paul F.M.J. Verschure

  5. Heriot-Watt University , Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Marc Desmulliez

  6. University of Sheffield , Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Tony J. Prescott

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Kerdegari, H., Kim, Y., Prescott, T.J. (2016). Head-Mounted Sensory Augmentation Device: Comparing Haptic and Audio Modality. In: Lepora, N., Mura, A., Mangan, M., Verschure, P., Desmulliez, M., Prescott, T. (eds) Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Living Machines 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9793. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42417-0_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42417-0_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42416-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42417-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation