Crosswalk mobility support for visually impaired individuals

Abstract

Visually impaired persons walk independently using guidance support systems such as tactile walking surface indicators and traffic lights with audio devices. Tactile walking surface indicators (TWSI’s) are the most basic guidance support system, and their installation area significantly affects the range of movement of visually impaired persons, making their role extremely important. Accidents occurring at pedestrian crossings account for a large proportion of accidents involving visually impaired persons walking independently, making appropriate mobility support necessary. Tactile walking surface indicators are effective in supporting mobility when visually impaired persons walk independently. Previous studies on the effectiveness of directional display using tactile walking surface indicators alone include Takeda et al.'s study and the authors' study on the directional display performance of attention patterns (dot shape). However, when a visually impaired person crosses a crosswalk, they are first guided to the crosswalk entrance by guiding patterns (bar shape), and then they recognize that they are near the crosswalk entrance by attention patterns. Furthermore, when a visually impaired person crosses a crosswalk, they step on the step between the sidewalk and the road with the soles of their feet to determine the direction to cross. This study aims to experimentally clarify, in light of actual installations, how the continuous arrangement of bar and dotted tactile walking surface indicators and the difference in the level of the pedestrian/vehicle boundary affect the orientation of visually impaired person at pedestrian crossings when determining their direction based on the sensation of their feet. In this experiment, we verified how accurately visually impaired people can determine their direction of travel at a crosswalk entrance based on tactile information obtained from the soles of their feet. Specifically, we conducted walking experiments using three different patterns: edge steps, attention patterns, and guiding patterns, and were able to visualize and quantify the subjects' walking trajectories using posture estimation by AI. The results suggest that adding steps in combination with guiding and attention patterns is effective.

Keywords: Tactile Walking Surface Indicator, Visually Impaired Individuals, Crosswalk, Direction Orientation, Veering

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007305