Published In
Frontiers in Education
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2021
Subjects
Blind -- Travel -- Technological innovations, Smartphones, Blind -- Orientation and mobility -- Technological innovations
Abstract
A review of 35 peer reviewed articles dated from 2016 to February, 2021 was conducted to identify and describe the types of wayfinding devices that people who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind use while navigating indoors and/or outdoors in dynamic travel contexts. Within this investigation, we discovered some characteristics of participants with visual impairments, routes traveled, and real-world environments that have been included in recent wayfinding research as well as information regarding the institutions, agencies, and funding sources that enable these investigations. Results showed that 33 out of the 35 studies which met inclusionary criteria integrated the use of smart device technology. Many of these devices were supplemented by bluetooth low-energy beacons, and other sensors with more recent studies integrating LIDAR scanning. Identified studies included scant information about participant’s visual acuities or etiologies with a few exceptions, which limits the usability of the findings for this highly heterogeneous population. Themes derived from this study are categorized around the individual traveler’s needs; the wayfinding technologies identified and their perceived efficacy; the contexts and routes for wayfinding tasks; and the institutional support offered for sustaining wayfinding research.
Rights
Copyright © 2021 Parker, Swobodzinski, Wright, Hansen, Morton and Schaller.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.3389/feduc.2021.723816
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36587
Citation Details
Parker, A. T., Swobodzinski, M., Wright, J. D., Hansen, K., Morton, B., & Schaller, E. Wayfinding Tools for People with Visual Impairments in Real-World Settings: A Literature Review of Recent Studies. In Frontiers in Education, 6:723816.