Understanding the Information Needs of People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

The goal of this project is to obtain a nuanced understanding of the strategies that people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) employ to perform different instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs).

Identifying useful and relevant visual cues that could support these iADLs, especially when the task involves some level of scene understanding, orientation, and mobility, will be essential to the success of near-future visual accessibility aids.

Project Team

Project Leads:

Principal Investigator:

Michael Beyeler

Assistant Professor

Publications

We present insights from 16 semi-structured interviews with individuals who are either legally or completely blind, highlighting both the current use and potential future applications of technologies for home-based iADLs.

Our interview study found a significant gap between researcher expectations and implantee experiences with visual prostheses, underscoring the importance of focusing future research on usability and real-world application.

We introduce VisionAI, a mobile application designed to enhance the in-store shopping experience for individuals with vision impairments.

We present a systematic literature review of 227 publications from 106 different venues assessing the potential of XR technology to further visual accessibility.

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