TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2001//
TI  - Improving obstacle detection by redesign of walking canes for blind persons
JO  - Ergonomics
A1  - Schellingerhout, R.
A1  - Bongers, Raoul M.
A1  - van Grinsven, R.
A1  - Smitsman, A. W.
A1  - Van Galen, G. P.
SP  - 513
EP  - 526
VL  - 44
IS  - 5
N2  - This paper describes an experiment in which the performance of cane walkers with the traditional straight long cane and a redesigned cane, the curved cane, was compared. The curved cane has a curve where the tip touches the ground. Participants were 18 experienced cane walkers who were totally blind. The aspects of cane walking that were investigated included obstacle detection, drop-off (slope) detection and walking speed. The performance with both canes was investigated in two different ways: (1) by means of constructed courses in which objective measures of cane walking were derived; and (2) by means of more qualitative measures based on the participants' experiences with the curved cane during a 3-week try-out period. Results showed that obstacle-detection was significantly better with the curved cane, whereas drop-off detection and walking speed were comparable for the two canes. The participants' experiences mirrored these results.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0014-0139
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -