A navigational aid for persons with severe visual impairments: a project in progress

Persons with severe visual impairments face significant obstacles in achieving independent mobility that is safe and robust in terms of possible emergencies and unfamiliar destinations. Widely used mobility aids such as a guide dog and/or white cane offer only limited solutions to this problem. Proposed retrofits of multistory buildings with fixed-point annunciators (to assist with the wayfinding indoors) are inflexible and costly. The personal navigational aid envisioned below attempts to address many of the problems faced by persons who are blind. This aid will incorporate many of the features of a personal data assistant (PDA), cellular phone, wireless Internet access, and Global Positioning System (GPS) and is currently undergoing initial systems design and review of performance specifications by potential users.