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Research
- Current
Projects
Transcending the Digital Divide
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to develop,
evaluate, and disseminate a non-visual interface
for accessing digital information. The aim
is to investigate the perceptual and cognitive
problems that blind people face when trying
to interpret information provided in a multimodal
manner. The project also plans to provide
touch sensitive and sound based network interface
and navigation devices that incorporate cognitive
wayfinding heuristics. Haptic (force feedback)
interfaces will be provided for exploring
web pages that consist of map, graphic, iconic
or image products. Sound identifiers for on-screen
windowed, map, and image information will
also be provided. These tasks will contribute
to transcending the Digital Divide that increasingly
separates blind or vision impaired people
from the growing information-based workplace.
Recent research at UCSB has begun to explore
how individuals identify features presented
through sound and touch. Other research (e.g.
O'Modhrrain and Gillespie, 1998; McKinley
and Scott, 1998) have used haptics to explore
screen objects such as windows, pulldown menus,
buttons, and sliders; but map, graphic and
other cartographic representations have not
been explored. In particular, the potential
of auditory maps of on-screen phenomena (e.g.
as would be important in GIS applications)
has barely been examined and few examples
exist of combining audio and touch principles
to build an interface. While imaginative efforts
to build non-visual interfaces have been proceeding.
there is a yet little empirical evidence that
people without sight can use them effectively
(i.e. develop a true representation of the
experienced phenomena). Experiments will be
undertaken to test the ability of vision impaired
and sighted people from different age groups
to use these new interface or features such
as: (i) the haptic mouse or a touch window
tied to auditory communication displays; (ii)
digitized real sounds to indicate environmental
features at their mapped locations; (iii)
"sound painting" of maps, images,
or charts to indicate gradients of phenomena
like temperature, precipitation, pressure,
population density and altitude. Tests will
be developed to evaluate (i) the minimum resolvable
area for the haptic interpretation of scenes;
(ii) the development of skills for shape tracing
in the sound or the force-feedback haptic
domain, (iii) the possibility of using continuous
or discreet sound symbols associated with
touch sensitive pads to learn hierarchically
nested screen information (e.g. locations
of cities within regions within states within
nations); (iv) to evaluate how dynamic activities
such as scrolling, zooming, and searching
can be conducted in the haptic or auditory
domain, (v) to evaluate people's comprehension
and ability to explore, comprehend, and make
inferences about various non-visual interpretations
of complex visual displays (e.g. maps and
diagrams), and (vi) to explore the effectiveness
of using a haptic mouse with a 2" square
motion domain to search a 14" screen
(i.e. scale effects).
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- Prior Projects
Off-Route Strategies in Non-Visual
Navigation
ABSTRACT
The project addresses the effects of learning
method on route comprehension of visually
impaired people, and it will determine if
changes in geographic scale alter the effectiveness
of selected learning media. An understanding
of how different methods of learning affect
route comprehension will allow current spatial
knowledge acquisition theory and orientation
and mobility training to be assessed and,
if necessary, improved. Traversing space is
one of the most cognitively demanding tasks
faced by visually impaired people, and often
invokes fear of being lost or disorientated.
For these reasons there is a need to identify
effective strategies of spatial learning that
can contribute to the mobility and quality
of life of visually impaired people. In the
first experiment 24 visually impaired people
will learn three short routes across a University
campus (in counterbalanced order). Each route
will be learnt using a different learning
method. The 24 subjects will be divided into
4 groups who will learn the route in a different
order. The 3 conditions will be (1) pointing
to places along the route, (2) making a map
of the route, and (3) verbally describing
the route. A further (control) group of ten
visually impaired subjects will learn the
route without any given strategy. Each trial
will be video recorded. The three strategies
selected are "off-route" strategies.
Participants' route learning performance will
be measured in several ways: the number of
trials required to achieve successful route
learning; number of errors made; types of
errors; self-reported confidence measures;
and assessment by independent judges of performance,
hesitancy, and confidence. In the second experiment,
16 participants will learn a route 1.4 miles
long through a complex urban environment.
Participants will be divided into two conditions.
In the first condition, they will learn the
route using the most successful strategy from
Experiment 1. In the second condition, they
will learn the route using no given strategy.
Sample sizes in both experiments are relatively
small due to the difficulty of recruiting
visually impaired participants, but the number
of participants and number of trials will
be greater than in previous experiments of
way-finding and therefore should provide definitive
results. By collecting data in a small-scale
(university campus) and a large-scale environment
(suburban neighborhood) we may find that spatial
knowledge acquisition focuses on different
cognition tasks at different scales. For the
development of an effective orientation and
mobility training program, these tasks may
be operationalized via one or more simple
geographic-based environmental learning procedures.
The research addresses important theoretical
questions relating to spatial learning and
cognition, providing further insights into
how visually impaired people construct, store,
and utilize spatial knowledge. In so doing,
it will address practical issues relating
to the improvement of current orientation
and mobility training.
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Understanding Geographic Space Without
the Use of Vision
ABSTRACT
This project examines the extent to which
blind and vision impaired people can develop
and use in everyday tasks, spatial information
at the `geographic` scale. The methodology
will utilize matched groups of congenitally
blind individuals (blind from birth), partially
sighted and sighted participants. Matching
will be by age, sex, culture and socio-economic
factors. Tasks to be used in the research
include location, distance estimation, model
building, direction finding and route following.
Information will be obtained from the participants
and subsequently compared by using verbal
instructions and videotaping of question and
answer sessions. The analysis will also make
use of debriefing sessions, preliminary consultative
and background interviews. The resulting data
will be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.
The research will have a cross cultural component
where information on cognitive mapping and
human navigation will be compared between
the U.S. and the U.K. These studies will be
closely matched to allow direct comparison.
This aspect of the research is important because
of the debate as to whether the concept of
disability is functionally driven. Blind and
vision impaired persons in the U.S. have been
faced with a `normalization, independent and
self-help` ethic whereas in the U.K. there
is a `social welfare` ethic of assistance.
Dr Mark Blades at University of Sheffield
and Dr Robert Kitchin at University of Swansea
will participate in this aspect of the work.
Scale effects and cross-cultural comparisons
have been largely ignored in work on spatial
cognition of blind and vision impaired. The
research addresses basic problems relating
to theories of spatial cognition by this disabled
group, as well as, practical problems of the
ways in which spatial abilities and actions
by blind and vision impaired people can be
enhanced in a manner that influences their
quality of life. The results will contribute
to the body of information revealing how the
visually impaired and blind think about and
behave in an everyday geographic environment.
This enhanced understanding has important
policy implications concerning planning and
education. In addition the work will likely
provide information on ways this group's wayfinding
and orientation skills may be enhanced.
Understanding Geographic Space Without
the Use of Vision
Executive Summary
(pdf document)
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Multimodal zooming in digital geographic
information
ABSTRACT
As a basic research issue, how well can people
integrate and reconcile spatial information
from various modalities, and how useful is
such integration?
As an applied issue, what is the potential
for haptic and auditory navigation within
geographic information systems? Can visual
information be augmented by the presentation
of information via other modalities, namely,
haptics and audition, and if so, to what
extent?
The seed grant research aims to establish
the momentum for the investigation of a
particular form of navigation within geographic
information systems, namely, zooming. The
research aims to investigate non-visual
methods of representing or augmenting a
visual zoom through the auditory and haptic
senses, creating a multimodal zooming
mechanism.
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Haptic Soundscapes: Making maps, diagrams
and graphs accessible to visually impaired
people
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research project is to develop
and evaluate haptic soundscapes. This allows
people with little or no vision to interact
with maps, diagrams and graphs displayed
via dissemination media, such as the World
Wide Web, through sound, touch and force
feedback. Although of principal utility
for people with severe visual impairments,
it is anticipated that this interface will
allow informative educational resources
for children and people with learning difficulties
to be developed and accessed through the
Internet. The research project offers a
simple, yet innovative solution to accessing
spatial data without the need for vision.
It builds upon previous work carried out
in various departments at UCSB, and fosters
inter-disciplinary links and cooperation
between usually unconnected research groups.
The research hopes to further knowledge
and understanding in this emerging field
and also to offer practical results that
will impact on people's lives. It is strongly
felt that the development of the project
will lead to continued external funding,
and it is our hope that this project will
act as a springboard to further research
in which UCSB will be a key component.
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Haptic Soundscapes: Further development,
usability testing, and expansion
ABSTRACT
The Haptic Soundscapes project has developed
a set of audio-tactile mapping tools to
help blind people access spatial information
and to help aid research in multi-modal
spatial cognition. These tools offer blind
people access to the geographic world they
cannot otherwise fully experience, creating
opportunities for orientation, navigation,
and education. Spatial knowledge from maps,
charts, and graphs, is obtained through
display and interaction with sound, touch,
and force-feedback devices. Individuals
can use audio-tactile mapping tools to explore
an unknown environment or create a audio-tactile
map from images displayed on a computer
screen. These audio-tactile maps can be
disseminated over the internet, or used
in educational settings. Next year, several
objectives are planned for the Haptic Soundscapes
project. These include cognitive experiments
to assess a user’s ability to navigate
within a scene, between adjacent scenes,
and between scenes of different scales using
the audio-tactile mapping tools. We will
also expand the capability of the audio-tactile
mapping system to include text-to-speech
synthesis and real-time multi-dimensional
sound representation. Several off-campus
funding proposals will be submitted. Finally,
we will showcase the tools developed in
the course of this project by expanding
our campus demonstrator - an interactive,
navigable audio-tactile map of the UCSB
campus.
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- Opportunities
- Facilities
Reserach Unit on Spatial Cognition and Choice,
Department of Geography, University of California
at Santa Barbara
- Related Research Programs
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