Testing Tactile Aids With Blind Subjects

Last updated: March 11, 2024
Sponsor: University of Delaware
Overall Status: Active - Recruiting

Phase

N/A

Condition

Vision Loss

Treatment

Optimal spacing between bumps

Improving signal from a single bump with designer materials

Single bump acuity

Clinical Study ID

NCT06237829
372362
  • Ages > 16
  • All Genders
  • Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Summary

The objective of this project is to create richer tactile aids by using materials chemistry to create tactile sensations in tactile aids, as an alternative to traditional physical bumps, lines, or textures. These materials are commonly used in household products, but have not yet been used to enrich tactile aids. Successful outcomes are primarily the accuracy with which low vision or blind subjects identify objects made from tactile coatings versus traditional tactile aids. Other outcomes include time to completion of the task, or the number of distinctive categories that participants can identify.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Visual Impairment: Participants should be blind or visually impaired for greater than 10 years, either congenitally or acquired.
  • Tactile Aid Usage: Participants must use tactile aids regularly.
  • Mathematical Knowledge: Participants should have a basic understanding of mathematicalplots, equivalent to at least high school geometry.

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Limb Conditions: Participants with amputations or outer extremity conditions affectinghand use will be excluded.

Study Design

Total Participants: 100
Treatment Group(s): 3
Primary Treatment: Optimal spacing between bumps
Phase:
Study Start date:
September 01, 2021
Estimated Completion Date:
December 31, 2027

Study Description

Traditional images and graphics, like mathematical plots or charts, are not accessible to low vision and blind people. Instead, for blind and low vision people, tactile aids are traditionally used to convey abstract concepts. However, tactile aids cannot convey as rich or as dense of information as traditional visual graphics, limiting independence and access to gainful employment for low vision and blind professionals.

The primary reason why tactile aids are inferior to visual graphics is that tactile aids are made from a combination of physical bumps, lines, and labels. Placing too many details on a single tactile aid quickly becomes illegible to the user because the various bumps, lines, and textures blur together, which is known as "tactile clutter".

The objective of this project is to create richer tactile aids by using materials chemistry to create tactile sensations in tactile aids, as an alternative to traditional physical bumps, lines, or textures. These materials are commonly used in household products, but have not yet been used to enrich tactile aids. Successful outcomes include having low vision or blind subjects identify objects made from our tactile materials quicker than traditional tactile aids, or to successfully identify more categories on a mathematical plot than is currently possible with existing tactile aids.

Connect with a study center

  • University of Delaware

    Newark, Delaware 19711
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

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