@article{ref1,
title="Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid",
journal="Restorative neurology and neuroscience",
year="2017",
author="Buchs, Galit and Simon, Noa and Maidenbaum, Shachar and Amedi, Amir",
volume="35",
number="2",
pages="225-235",
abstract="BACKGROUND: One of the most stirring statistics in relation to the mobility of blind individuals is the high rate of upper body injuries, even when using the white-cane. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: We here addressed a rehabilitation- oriented challenge of providing a reliable tool for blind people to avoid waist-up obstacles, namely one of the impediments to their successful mobility using currently available methods (e.g., white-cane). <br><br>METHODS: We used the EyeCane, a device we developed which translates distances from several angles to haptic and auditory cues in an intuitive and unobtrusive manner, serving both as a primary and secondary mobility aid. We investigated the rehabilitation potential of such a device in facilitating visionless waist-up body protection. <br><br>RESULTS: After ∼5 minutes of training with the EyeCane blind participants were able to successfully detect and avoid obstacles waist-high and up. This was significantly higher than their success when using the white-cane alone. As avoidance of obstacles required participants to perform additional cognitive process after their detection, the avoidance rate was significantly lower than the detection rate. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Our work has demonstrated that the EyeCane has the potential to extend the sensory world of blind individuals by expanding their currently accessible inputs, and has offered them a new practical rehabilitation tool.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0922-6028",
doi="10.3233/RNN-160686",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/RNN-160686"
}