Basic Study on Evaluation Method of Orientation and Mobility Skills Consideration for Visually Impaired Persons Based on Brain Activity

Visually impaired persons recognize their surrounding with a white cane or a guide dog while walking. This skill called "Orientation and Mobility" is difficult to learn. The training of the "Orientation and Mobility Skills" is performed at the school for visually impaired person. However, the evaluation of this skill is limited to subjective evaluation by teacher. We have proposed that quantitative evaluation of the "Orientation and Mobility Skills" is required. In this paper, we tried to execute the quantitative evaluation of the "Orientation and Mobility Skills" using brain activity measurements. In this experiment, brain activity was measured when subjects are walking in the corridor alone or with guide helper. Experimental subjects were sighted person who was blocked visual information during walking. The blood flow of prefrontal cortex was increased as the movement distance of the subject increased when subjects walk alone. From this result, it can be considered that the feeling of fear and the attention relayed to "Orientation and Mobility Skills" could be measured quantitatively by measuring human brain activities.