Abstract Monitoring and analyzing live data is crucial in many aspects of life. But visual monitoring approaches are often not accessible and exclude people who are blind or have low vision. This systematic literature review aims to identify and analyze non-visual methods for presenting live data to this user group, identifying areas for further exploration and improvement. The search covered research articles and surveys published before August 2024. We used Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ACM digital library, and Connected Papers to find English publications targeting people with blindness or low vision. We screened more than 1400 publications, of which 14 met the eligibility criteria. Most approaches use verbalization, but only two evaluations with participants with blindness or low vision were conducted. The review reveals a significant research gap in live data monitoring for people who are blind or have low vision. While promising technologies exist, they are seldom assessed.

It is much more difficult for people with visual impairments to plan and implement a journey to unknown places than for sighted people, because in addition to the usual travel arrangements, they also need to know whether the different parts of the travel chain are accessible at all. The need for information is presumably therefore very high and ranges from knowledge about the accessibility of public transport as well as outdoor and indoor environments. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study that examines in-depth requirements of both the planning of a trip and its implementation, looking separately at the various special needs of people with low vision and blindness. In this paper, we present a survey with 106 people with visual impairments, in which we examine the strategies they use to prepare for a journey to unknown buildings, how they orient themselves in unfamiliar buildings and what materials they use. Our analysis shows that requirements for people with blindness and low vision differ. The feedback from the participants reveals that there is a large information gap, especially for orientation in buildings, regarding maps, accessibility of buildings and supporting systems. In particular, there is a lack of availability of indoor maps.

In this paper, we present a drawing workstation for blind people using a two-dimensional tactile pin-matrix display for in- and output. Four different input modalities, namely menu-based, gesture-based, freehand-stylus and a Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth segmentation of real-world object silhouettes, are utilized to create graphical shapes. Users can freely manipulate shapes after creation. Twelve blind users evaluated and compared the four image creation modalities. During evaluation, participants had to copy four different images. The results show that all modalities are highly appropriate for non-visual drawing tasks. There is no generally preferred drawing modality, but most participants rated the robust and well-known menu-based interaction as very good. Furthermore, menu was second in performance and the most accurate drawing modality. Our evaluation demonstrated direct manipulation works well for blind users at the position of the reading hand. In general, our drawing tool allows blind users to create appealing images.

For comprehensively participating in society, independent and safe mobility is an important skill for many daily activities. Spatial cognition is one of the most important human capabilities and addresses the acquisition, processing and utilization of knowledge about the spatial layout of environments. Humans predominantly use the visual sense for this and for blind and low vision people, the lack of spatial perception reduces their quality of life and their ability of independent living. In particular the spatial navigation in unknown environments imposes challenges, since there is no possibility to train navigation tasks in advance. Today, blind and visually impaired people still rely on traditional navigation aids such as a cane for micro-navigation, which - however - does not help for developing orientation at larger scale or for planning of routes. To overcome this problem, this paper introduces the concept of a virtual environment that allows experiencing unknown locations by real walking while still staying in a sage controlled environment. Since this virtual environment can be controlled in its complexity, it can be adjusted from an abstract training scenario to a real-life situation such as train stations or airports.

In daily life, a guide dog as a companion assists blind and visually impaired people (BVIP) to perform independent and safe journey. However, due to several reasons (e.g., cost and long-term training) only a few BVIP would own their guide dogs. To let much more BVIP would have accessible guidance services in unfamiliar public or private areas, we plan to develop an interactive guide dog robot prototype. In this paper, we present one of the most important components of a guidance robot for BVIP, an interactive haptic rein which consists of force-sensing sensors to control and balance the walking speed between BVIP and robots in a natural way, and vibrated actuators under fingers to acquire haptic information, e.g., turning left/right. The results of preliminary user studies indicated that the proposed haptic rein allow BVIP to control and communicate with a guidance robot via a natural haptic interaction.

In the paper we present our Range-IT prototype, which is a 3D depth camera based electronic travel aid (ETA) to assist visually impaired people in finding out detailed information of surrounding objects. In addition to detecting indoor obstacles and identifying several objects of interest (e.g., walls, open doors and stairs) up to 7 meters, the Range-IT system employs a multimodal audio-vibrotactile user interface to present this spatial information.

Blind and visually impaired people often use an "object-to-object" strategy to explore unknown spaces through physical contact via their canes or bodies. Camera-based mobile electronic travel aids (ETAs) not only offer a larger work range than a white cane while detecting obstacles, but also enable users to recognise objects of interest without physical contact. In this paper, we conducted a case study with seven visually impaired participants, to investigate how they use a depth-sensing camera-based ETA for exploring unknown spaces, and how they reconstruct cognitive mappings of surrounding objects. We found that camera-based mobile ETAs would assist visually impaired users to explore the surrounding environment effectively and without physical contact. Furthermore, our original study indicates ETA users change their strategies for exploring the surrounding environment from using an "object-to-object" approach to an "observation-point to observation-point" strategy. Participants improved their cognitive mappings of the surrounding environment compared to white cane users.

Supporting blind and visually impaired people with digital maps that can enhance spatial awareness and learning about the surrounding environment is a challenge. This study introduces an audio-tactile you-are-here map system that presents map elements and users' updated location on a mobile pin-matrix display for blind and visually impaired people. In addition to panning and zooming a map, in the system, a set of tactile map symbols consisting of raised and lowered pins have been proposed to present varying map elements. A field test with eight visually impaired subjects and eight blindfolded subjects who did not have experience with tactile maps and Braille was conducted. Subjects would locate surrounding streets easily after a short-time training, as well as nearby point-of-interests (POIs). The results of the evaluation indicated that the mean relative distance error was significantly lower with nearby POIs, which do not require panning while exploring, than far away POIs. Furthermore, it is important to improve the portability of the proposed prototype and develop a one-hand map exploration method.

The Tangram Workstation is a collaborative system for creating tactile graphics. A transcriber composing a tactile graphic from a visual source is supported by a non-visual reviewer on a two-dimensional tactile pin-matrix device on which he can observe and adapt the work of his sighted team member. We present the results of an evaluation with eight teams, each consisting of a transcriber and a blind reviewer. Overall, quality of tactile graphics can be improved by a collaborative approach. In most cases blind users recommended changes on tactile graphics even when they have been prepared by professional sighted editors. The study also showed that the blind reviewer is able to do simple editing tasks independently with our workstation.

Due to inaccurate GPS data and complex environment close to buildings, for blind people it is often hard to find entrances in unknown areas. In this paper, we propose an enhance method that combines crowd-sourcing technology and location-based services, in order to help blind pedestrians find entrances independently in unknown regions. Besides collecting environmental accessibility information collaboratively, within this method a reference point has to be created for each entrance. Users are guided to a reference point by current GPS-based navigation systems, and rely on the environmental accessibility information walking from the reference point to the target entrance finally. A pilot study with 10 subjects (5 blind and 5 blindfolded) indicated that, the proposed method would help blind people find entrances in unfamiliar areas, and we found the blind and blindfolded individuals performed differently due to their different levels of orientation and mobility skills. Overall, it is promising to integrate the proposed approach into existing navigation systems for blind and visually impaired people.

In this article, we propose and evaluate a novel audio-haptic map system to improve map accessibility for the visually impaired while reading city maps and making pre-journey routes. The system employs a touch-sensitive pin-matrix display and represents various map elements through a pre-defined set of tactile map symbols consisting of raised and lowered pins. The interactive user interface allows users to not only acquire auditory and Braille geographic information by touching the involved map elements, but also prepare pre-journey routes by exploring large-scale areas through panning and zooming. Furthermore, the positive results of the evaluation conducted with 10 blind users indicate that blind users are able to use the proposed map system to read street maps and make pre-journey routes in unknown areas, with acquired configurational knowledge and route knowledge. Two-thirds of participants prefer swell-paper maps with only two zoom levels.

Proximity-based interaction through a long cane is essential for the blind and the visually impaired. We designed and implemented an obstacle detector consisting of a 3D Time-of-Flight (TOF) camera and a planar tactile display to extend the interaction range and provide rich non-visual information about the environment. Users choose a better path after acquiring the spatial layout of obstacles than with a white cane alone. A user study with 6 blind people was analyzed and showed extra time is needed to ensure safe walking while reading the layout. Both hanging and ground-based obstacles were circumvented. Tactile mapping information has been designed for representation of precise spatial information around a blind user.

Today's window systems present the information in a graphical and thereby a spatial manner making the text-only access of a standard Braille device insufficient to enable blind users an equivalent exploration of the data. In this paper we present the planar Braille Window System (BWS) designed for a tactile display consisting of a pin-matrix of 120 columns and 60 rows. The system is composed of six separate regions enabling the user to receive different types of information simultaneously. The content of the main region containing Braille windows can be shown in various manners (text-or graphics-based) through four different views. The interaction within our Braille Window System is implemented not only by keyboard shortcuts but also by the use of multitouch gestures. Therefore the user is able to interact directly on the touch-sensitive display. A study conducted with eight blind users has confirmed the concept of Braille windows, regions and views. Especially the gestural input for exploring details of the content offers new possibilities in interacting within a GUI.

Mobility impaired people use a variety of assistive technologies to navigate independently in everyday life. Although several technical approaches for navigation systems exist, many drawbacks remain due to lack of geospatial resolution, inadequate geographical data provided, and missing adaptation of routes to a multitude of user specific criteria. We developed RouteCheckr, a client/server system for collaborative multimodal annotation of geographical data and personalized routing of mobility impaired pedestrians. The construction of algorithms supporting multiple bipolar criteria is described, applied to route calculation, and demonstrated in our university's campus. To satisfy individual requirements, user profiles are incorporated enabling adaptivity over heterogeneous user groups while preserving privacy. Finally, a general architecture for RouteCheckr is presented and simulation results are analyzed.

Electronic documents theoretically have great advantages for people with print disabilities, although currently this potential is not being realized. This paper reports research to develop multimedia documents with universal interfaces which can be configured to the needs of people with a variety of print disabilities. The implications of enriching multimedia documents with additional and alternative single media objects is discussed and an implementation using HTML + TIME has been undertaken.

This article reports on the results of the second meeting and workshop of the International Scientific Forum, "Towards an Information Society for All," that took place in Crete, Greece, June 15-16, 1998. In particular, it elaborates on the international research and development agenda (Stephanidis et al., 1998), which resulted from the first meeting and workshop of the Forum in San Francisco, California, on August 29, 1997, in the context of the HCI International '97 Conference. This article elaborates on the proposed research and development agenda by identifying human-computer interaction challenges and clusters of concrete recommendations for international collaborative research and technological development (RTD) activities. Four clusters of recommendations are proposed. The first three facilitate reaching technological targets, and the fourth comprises accompanying measures. The three technological clusters concern the corresponding transitions from (a) productivity tools to environments of use, (b) individual users to communities of users, and (c) computer-assisted business tasks to computer-mediated human activities. The fourth cluster covers support (horizontal) actions needed to establish a favorable environment for the creation of an information society acceptable to all citizens. Each cluster is elaborated by means of specific recommendations, plausible RTD objectives, and likely or expected outcomes.

Users who are blind currently have limited access to graphical user interfaces based on MS Windows or X Windows.Past access strategies have used speech synthesizers and braille displays to present text-based interfaces.Providing access to graphical applications creates new human interface design challenges which must be addressed to build intuitive and efficient nonvisual interfaces.Two conmasting designs have been developed and implemented in the projects Mercator and GUIB.These systems differ dramatically in their approaches to providing nonvisual interfaces to GUIS.This paper discusses four main interface design issues for access systems, and describes how the Mercator and GUIB designs have addressed these issues.It is hoped that the exploration of these interfaces will lead to better nonvisual interfaces used in low visibility and visually overloaded environments.