Training System for White Cane Technique Using Illusory Pulling Cues Induced by Asymmetric Vibrations

A white cane is conventionally used by visually impaired persons to assist their mobility. To learn its proper operation, training by an orientation & mobility specialist is necessary. However, because the number of specialists is limited, visually impaired persons often do not receive sufficient training. To rectify this issue, a training environment in which the visually impaired can train independently is required. This paper proposes a training system that enables the visually impaired to learn white cane techniques using illusory pulling cues. Specifically, in the white cane touch technique, which is a basic white cane technique, a system that targets the swing width of the white cane is presented by illusory pulling cues. To verify the efficacy of the system, a prototype was implemented and evaluated via user tests. The results confirmed that the error of the swing width of the white cane decreased following use of the proposed system. The proposed system will contribute to the development of the mobility of the visually impaired by enabling them to train with the white cane independently and spontaneously, thereby reducing the workload of specialists.