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AbstractPurposeMaterials and methodsResultsConclusions\nIMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONVisually impaired people (VIP) find it challenging to understand and gain awareness of their surroundings. Most activities require the use of the auditory or tactile senses. As such, assistive systems which are capable of aiding visually impaired people to understand, navigate and form a mental representation of their environment are extensively being studied and developed. The aim of this paper is to provide insight regarding the characteristics, as well as the advantages and drawbacks of different types of sonification strategies in assistive systems, to assess their suitability for certain use-cases.To this end, we reviewed a sizeable number of assistive solutions for VIP which provide a form of auditory feedback to the user, encountered in different scientific databases (Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM and Google Scholar) through direct searches and cross-referencing.We classified these solutions based on the aural information they provide to the VIP – alerts, guidance and information about their environment, be it spatial or semantic. Our intention is not to provide an exhaustive review, but to select representative implementations from recent literature that highlight the particularities of each sonification approach.Thus, anyone who is intent on developing an assistive solution will be able to choose the desired sonification class, being aware of the advantages/disadvantages and at the same time having a fairly wide selection of articles from the representative class.The motivation behind this paper is to provide an overview of sonification strategies in the context of assistive systems for the visually impaired people.Whilst surveys and reviews which provide in-depth insights into assistive technologies and sonification exist, papers which provide a combined view of these topics are rather lacking.The analysis of the selected papers provides insight regarding the characteristics of different types of sonification strategies in assistive systems for visually impaired people and their suitability for certain use-cases.The motivation behind this paper is to provide an overview of sonification strategies in the context of assistive systems for the visually impaired people.Whilst surveys and reviews which provide in-depth insights into assistive technologies and sonification exist, papers which provide a combined view of these topics are rather lacking.The analysis of the selected papers provides insight regarding the characteristics of different types of sonification strategies in assistive systems for visually impaired people and their suitability for certain use-cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receiving navigation directions and relevant information through appropriate channels is crucial for individuals with visual impairments when they use navigation assistant systems. Various navigation assistant systems have implemented diverse methods and modalities to provide navigation instructions to users. Moreover, several studies have examined the preferences of individuals with visual impairments regarding modalities. These studies have primarily relied on surveys or interviews to report their findings. In this study, we extensively investigated the type of navigation information individuals with visual impairments would prefer to receive. To achieve this, we employed a mixed-method design comprising an experiment, a questionnaire, and interviews conducted with participants with visual impairments and individuals with 20/20 vision who were blindfolded. We tested unimodal instruction modes (audio only) and multimodal instruction modes (audio and vibration), along with two types of audio instructions: short and descriptive. To evaluate the participants' navigation performance, we measured the time taken and errors made during navigation using different instruction types and modes. The findings of this study suggest that the instruction mode does not have any significant effect on the time taken or errors made to complete the trials. Additionally, no evidence was found to support the preference for descriptive instructions over short instructions among the participants. Furthermore, the study did not find evidence to suggest that participants prefer receiving detailed instructions about the environment and obstacles during navigation. It became evident that participants had varying preferences for instruction modes, highlighting the importance of customized functionalities in navigation assistant systems. Moreover, our study validated that participants with visual impairments spent less time and made fewer errors during navigation compared to blindfolded participants with 20/20 vision. We believe that the results of this study will contribute to expanding the understanding of user preferences regarding the type and modality of instructions in the domain of assistive navigation technology. • Receiving information through appropriate channels is vital for visually impaired. • No significant effect of navigation instruction mode on time taken or errors made. • No evidence participants prefer descriptive instructions over short instructions. • No evidence participants prefer to hear environment details during navigation. • Users prefer personalized options for instruction modes in a navigation assistant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Navigation assistance is an active research area, where one aim is to foster independent living for people with vision impairments. Despite the fact that many navigation assistants use advanced technologies and methods, we found that they did not explicitly address two essential requirements in a navigation assistant - portability and convenience. It is equally imperative in designing a navigation assistant for the visually impaired that the device is portable and convenient to use without much training. Some navigation assistants do not provide users with detailed information about the obstacle types that can be detected, which is essential to make informed decisions when navigating in real-time. To address these gaps, we propose DeepNAVI, a smartphone-based navigation assistant that leverages deep learning competence. Besides providing information about the type of obstacles present, our system can also provide information about their position, distance from the user, motion status, and scene information. All this information is offered to users through audio mode without compromising portability and convenience. With a small model size and rapid inference time, our navigation assistant can be deployed on a portable device such as a smartphone and work seamlessly in a real-time environment. We conducted a pilot test with a user to assess the usefulness and practicality of the system. Our testing results indicate that our system has the potential to be a practical and useful navigation assistant for the visually impaired. • Portability and convenience are crucial in navigation assistant design. • We propose DeepNAVI, a smartphone navigation assistant for the visually impaired. • DeepNAVI provides information about obstacles and environment to help navigate. • DeepNAVI can be deployed on a portable device and works in real-time. • Tests suggest that DeepNAVI could be helpful for the visually impaired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce a novel assistant for autonomous navigation of partially sighted people. The system, called ALICE, offers information about the location and possible directions a visual impaired user must follow in order to reach the desired destinations. The navigation is completed with a novel computer vision method that is able to detect and classify, in real-time, both static and dynamic obstacles without any a priori information about the obstacle type, size, position or location. The GPS localization is enriched with a visual landmark recognition technique. Finally, through audio feedback a set of warnings is launched so that the user is alerted of potential hazards. For the feedback, audio bone conduction headphones are employed in order to allow the visually impaired to hear the systems warnings, but also other sounds from the environment. At the hardware level, the system is totally integrated on a smartphone which makes it easy to wear, non-invasive and low-cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]