TY  - JOUR
U1  - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed)
A1  - Kilian, Jakob
A1  - Neugebauer, Alexander
A1  - Scherffig, Lasse
A1  - Wahl, Siegfried
ED  - Cataldo, Andrea
T1  - The Unfolding Space Glove: A Wearable Spatio-Visual to Haptic Sensory Substitution Device for Blind People
JF  - Sensors
N2  - This paper documents the design, implementation and evaluation of the Unfolding Space Glove—an open source sensory substitution device. It transmits the relative position and distance of nearby objects as vibratory stimuli to the back of the hand and thus enables blind people to haptically explore the depth of their surrounding space, assisting with navigation tasks such as object recognition and wayfinding. The prototype requires no external hardware, is highly portable, operates in all lighting conditions, and provides continuous and immediate feedback—all while being visually unobtrusive. Both blind (n = 8) and blindfolded sighted participants (n = 6) completed structured training and obstacle courses with both the prototype and a white long cane to allow performance comparisons to be drawn between them. The subjects quickly learned how to use the glove and successfully completed all of the trials, though still being slower with it than with the cane. Qualitative interviews revealed a high level of usability and user experience. Overall, the results indicate the general processability of spatial information through sensory substitution using haptic, vibrotactile interfaces. Further research would be required to evaluate the prototype’s capabilities after extensive training and to derive a fully functional navigation aid from its features.
KW  - Blinder Mensch
KW  - Tactile Vision Sensory Substitution
KW  - Blind
KW  - Visually Impaired
KW  - Mobility
KW  - Navigation
KW  - Orientation
KW  - Locomotion
KW  - Open Source
KW  - Haptic
KW  - Wearable
KW  - Mobilität
KW  - Navigation
KW  - Orientierung
KW  - Fortbewegung
KW  - Open Source
KW  - Haptische Feedback-Technologie
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:832-epub4-19560
SN  - 1424-8220
SS  - 1424-8220
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22051859
DO  - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22051859
VL  - 22
IS  - 5
SP  - 33
S1  - 33
PB  - MDPI
ER  -