Connecting visually-impaired people to friends through wireless sensor networks

Studies have shown that visually-impaired people, particularly those with recent impairment, suffer from reduced social interaction. Technological innovations for these people have overlooked social interaction in favor of environmental mapping and mobility. Our work develops an Enhanced Social Awareness network. This network assists visually-impaired people in identifying friends and provides them with the cues necessary to initiate social contact. We experimentally verify our work and discuss the future implications and needs of such networks.