AudiNect: An Aid for the Autonomous Navigation of VisuallyImpaired People, Based On Virtual Interface

  1. Mario Salerno 1
  2. Marco Re 1
  3. Alessandro Cristini 1
  4. Gianluca Susi 1
  5. Marco Bertola 3
  6. Emiliano Daddario 3
  7. Francesca Capobianco 2
  1. 1 Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electronics. University of Rome,“Tor Vergata”
  2. 2 Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electronics University of Rome,“Tor Vergata”
  3. 3 Faculty of Engineering, Master in Sound Engineering. University of Rome,“Tor Vergata”
Revista:
International Journal of Human Computer Interaction (IJHCI)

ISSN: 2180-1347

Año de publicación: 2013

Volumen: 4

Número: 1

Páginas: 25-33

Tipo: Artículo

Otras publicaciones en: International Journal of Human Computer Interaction (IJHCI)

Resumen

In this paper, the realization of a new kind of autonomous navigation aid is presented. The prototype, called AudiNect, is mainly developed as an aid for visually impaired people, though a larger range of applications is also possible. The AudiNect prototype is based on the Kinect device for Xbox 360. On the basis of the Kinect output data, proper acoustic feedback is generated, so that useful depth information from 3D frontal scene can be easily developed and acquired. To this purpose, a number of basic problems have been analyzed, in relation to visually impaired people orientation and movement, through both actual experimentations and a careful literature research in the field. Quite satisfactory results have been reached and discussed, on the basis of proper tests on blindfolded sighted individuals