ABBI: A wearable device for improving spatial cognition in visually-impaired children

Research suggests that vision plays an important role in child's growth for building cognitive abilities necessary to process spatial information. Consequently, blindness in children affects the development of their spatial abilities. Here we present ABBI (Audio Bracelet for Blind Interaction), a wearable device that was developed to rehabilitate underdeveloped skills in visually impaired children. The core idea behind ABBI is to use the auditory modality to convey spatial information about the movement of the person's own body within the personal, peri-personal and extra-personal space. Specifically, it provides sources of sounds positioned on the main effectors/limbs (such as the wrists and feet) of persons with visual deficits. The ABBI system is composed of a small wearable custom-designed device with integrated audio system, motion sensors, and a Bluetooth low energy module to communicate with a smartphone. We discuss the importance of this device in terms of innovation, usability and highlight future studies aimed at rehabilitating the brain processes and functions involved in spatial cognition of children with visual disabilities through natural audio-motor associations.