Navigation - Smartphone applications like Microsoft Soundscape or Google Maps that clue users into their surroundings and navigate them to objective. Includes the two classic tools, the white cane & guide dog, as well as various “sonic canes” like the SmartCane. Obstacle Avoidance - Tools that help a user detect nearby obstacles and improve close range awareness. Broadly, these fell into a few categories. The competitive landscape for products aimed at aiding blind user navigation held myriad products. In addition to the subject matter itself, these papers often included open source code which we could utilize in our application, as well as offering guidelines for how to structure our user testing. This CalTech lab developed an assistant that could identify individual objects and guide users through a building on a precomputed path. This researcher developed a “TextSpotting” application for the HoloLens to identify and make available text in the user’s environment.ĭ) “Augmented Reality Powers a Cognitive Assistant for the Blind,” Liu et al. This examined how physical arrangements of objects could be captured and sonified for the benefit of visually impaired people.Ĭ) “ A HoloLens Application to Aid People who are Visually Impaired in Navigation Tasks,” Jonathan Huang. Emily Cooper’s lab, this explores using the HoloLens as a contrast-enhancement device to layer objects with color based on distance.ī) “ Sonification of 3D Scenes Using Personalized Spatial Audio to Aid Visually Impaired Persons,” Bujacz et al. Some of the most interesting papers included:Ī) “Using an Augmented Reality Device as a Distance-based Vision Aid-Promise and Limitations,” Kinateder et al. National Federation of the Blind’s Lou Anne Blake, Curtis Chong, and Arielle Silverman gave us great advice on which use cases to focus on.īerkeley Web Access’ Lucy Greco was a huge help, offering us advice on several occasions and testing our prototype as well. Lighthouse Labs Technology Director Erin Lauridsen gave us great feedback and connected us with many people in the blind & low vision tech community to speak and test with. Microsoft Principal Software Engineer Robert “Robin” Held and Senior Audio Director Joe Kelly helped immensely with their detailed knowledge of HoloLens systems. Professor Emily Cooper of the School of Optometry’s sight enhancement HoloLens research proved a valuable reference throughout the project, and she was kind enough to lend us a HoloLens for testing purposes. Professors John Chuang and Coye Cheshire also gave invaluable help. Berkeley professor Kimiko Ryokai served as our academic advisor, offering advice on many aspects of the project throughout its development.

Scene analysis for visually impaired