Distance judgement in individuals with vision and hearing loss

Area of Science:

• Sensory neuroscience
• Human-computer interaction
• Rehabilitation science

Background:

• Safe navigation relies heavily on accurate distance judgment.
• Individuals with vision loss (VL) often depend on auditory cues for spatial awareness.
• The effectiveness of auditory cues for distance judgment in those with combined vision and hearing loss (dual sensory loss, DSL) is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate visual, auditory, and audiovisual distance judgment in individuals with VL and DSL.
• To compare performance between verbal estimation and walking to target locations.
• To determine the robustness of different sensory modalities for distance perception in sensory impairments.

Main Methods:

• Fifty adults (16 controls, 19 VL, 15 DSL) participated.
• Participants estimated distances (0.9-5.4 m) of visual (flashing lights) and auditory (pulsing tones) targets.
• Judgments were made via verbal reports and walking to remembered locations.

Main Results:

• Visual distance judgment remained accurate across all groups, including VL and DSL.
• Auditory distance estimation exhibited significant errors and biases, especially in the DSL group.
• Audiovisual integration led to poorer performance in VL and DSL groups compared to vision alone.
• Verbal reports correlated well with walking responses for visual and audiovisual tasks, but not for auditory tasks.

Conclusions:

• Vision is a more reliable sense for distance judgment than hearing, even with sensory loss.
• Auditory distance judgment is prone to errors, exacerbated by hearing loss.
• Combined sensory input can impair performance in VL and DSL individuals, suggesting integration challenges.
• Accurate assessment of visual and auditory strengths is vital for developing personalized navigation support strategies.