Camera-based mobile electronic travel aids support for cognitive mapping of unknown spaces

Abstract

Blind and visually impaired people often use an "object-to-object" strategy to explore unknown spaces through physical contact via their canes or bodies. Camera-based mobile electronic travel aids (ETAs) not only offer a larger work range than a white cane while detecting obstacles, but also enable users to recognise objects of interest without physical contact. In this paper, we conducted a case study with seven visually impaired participants, to investigate how they use a depth-sensing camera-based ETA for exploring unknown spaces, and how they reconstruct cognitive mappings of surrounding objects. We found that camera-based mobile ETAs would assist visually impaired users to explore the surrounding environment effectively and without physical contact. Furthermore, our original study indicates ETA users change their strategies for exploring the surrounding environment from using an "object-to-object" approach to an "observation-point to observation-point" strategy. Participants improved their cognitive mappings of the surrounding environment compared to white cane users.