CRII: CHS: Customized Navigation for Older Adults with Vision Loss

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

For a person with low vision, interacting with a smartphone to access information that is critical to their independence and safety, while possible, is slow and tedious. The ultimate goal of this research is to remedy that deficiency by creating technology that enables these users to access information quickly and easily, both at home and on the go. As a concrete and challenging first step, the work will focus on systems to enable seniors with low vision to plan and execute urban navigation tasks. If successful, members of this large and growing target community will be empowered to perform a key activity of daily living with more confidence and independence. Project outcomes will advance the state of the art in accessibility research more broadly, by laying the foundation for a new paradigm of accessible interaction via low-cost mainstream devices. To these ends, the research will involve a number of phases: (1) documenting the navigation and mobility patterns and challenges facing members of the target user community; (2) the design and implementation of a desktop system that produces "optimal" routes based on feature accessibility along a given route; (3) the design and implementation of a smartphone navigation application that will provide accessible guidance including accessible maps; and (4) evaluation of the smartphone application in the field with target users. Achieving these goals will require an interdisciplinary effort that draws on expertise in a diverse set of fields, including accessibility, interaction techniques, information processing, and machine learning.