TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Waist-up protection for blind individuals using the EyeCane as a primary and secondary mobility aid
JO  - Restorative neurology and neuroscience
A1  - Buchs, Galit
A1  - Simon, Noa
A1  - Maidenbaum, Shachar
A1  - Amedi, Amir
SP  - 225
EP  - 235
VL  - 35
IS  - 2
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0922-6028
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/RNN-160686
ID  - ref1
ER  -