Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 23-4 - 20

Table 4 - Comparisons of measured error
on elliptical courses for various users with
and without feedback
Activity

Average
error w/o PI

Average
error with PI

Roller skating
Walking
Brisk walking
Walking

0.66 m
0.37 m
0.80 m
0.88 m

0.50 m
0.16 m
0.70 m
0.56 m

User
Blind user #1
Blind user #2
Sighted #1
Sighted #2

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results obtained by different users with and without feedback
and shows the improvement achieved by this method.
These guiding methods are effective. After a few low-speed
laps, users (including blind people) are able to perceive the
configuration of the route and can gain speed. The guidance
system then allows the user to adjust his position in real time
without any additional effort.

using tactile-visual sensory substitution," in Proc. 2006 Int. Conf.
IEEE Eng. Med. Biology Soc., pp. 6289-6292, 2006.
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Conclusion

Tietz, "Personal guidance system for the visually impaired," in

With the device described in this paper, we have been able
to guide different people, including blind people, walking,
running or roller skating in a protected environment, using
spatialized sound stimuli. We have shown how to address the
different issues of the problem in order to develop a real-time
embedded system that contains HRTF filtering, depending
on the location and head orientation of the user. We also provide the reader with results that show the efficiency of the
approach.
Our experiments show that the user's reception of the device is very positive, and with very short training, the user
follows the sound naturally and quite comfortably. Our prototype is regularly tested with users and athletes that help us to
improve the system.
Much remains indeed to be done concerning the integration of the system in a better wearable device, but we believe
that the concept developed in this article has been validated. In
the long term, our system could help a greater number of visually impaired people to play sport, for example, with a single
guide for an entire group. It could also facilitate the practice of
competition.

Proc. 1st Ann. ACM Conf. Assistive Technol.(ACM), pp. 85-91, 1994.
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system for the blind: auditory display modes and guidance,"
Presence, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 193-203, 1998.
[10]	"Devices for visually impaired people: high technological devices
with low user acceptance and no adaptability for children,"
ScienceDirect. [Online]. Available: https://www.sciencedirect.
com/science/article/pii/S0149763415302864.
[11]	S. Strachan, P. Eslambolchilar, R. Murray-Smith, S. Hughes, and
S. O'Modhrain, "GpsTunes: controlling navigation via audio
feedback," in Proc. 7th Int. Conf. Human Computer Interaction with
Mobile Devices & Services (MobileHCI), p. 275, 2005.
[12]	M. Jones, S. Jones, G. Bradley, N. Warren, D. Bainbridge, and G.
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support navigation," Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, vol. 12,
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[13]	E. Carrasco, E. Loyo, O. Otaegui, C. Fsleitner, M. Dubielzig, R.
Olmedo, W. Wasserburger, and J. Spiller, "ARGUS autonomous
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2014.
[14]	B. F. G. Katz, S. Kammoun, G. Parseihian, O. Gutierrez et al.,

Acknowledgments

"NAVIG: augmented reality guidance system for the visually

We work in close partnership with several sport associations
that help people with disabilities. We would like to acknowledge the associations "MCV," "Accessi Meca Sports" and all
of the blind people and athletes who have contributed to these
developments.

impaired: combining object localization, GNSS, and spatial
audio," Virtual Reality, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 253-269, Nov. 2012.
[15]	J. Wilson, B. N. Walker, J. Lindsay, C. Cambias, and F. Dellaert,
"Swan: system for wearable audio navigation," in 2007 Proc. 11th
IEEE Int. Symp. Wearable Computers, pp. 91-98, 2007.
[16]	J. M. Roberts, P. Corke, and G. Buskey, "Low-cost flight control

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IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine	

June 2020
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