Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to develop assistive technology that would allow safer and more effective guidance while walking the streets of a city. The study is being conducted under the direction of William Seiple, PhD, Lighthouse Guild and in collaboration with New York University.
Number of Study Participants: A total number of 60 participants are being recruited in this study.
Duration: Your participation will require up to one hour for this session.
Procedures: You will be asked brief questions regarding your daily activities, vision loss, and cognitive function.
We will ask you to walk on the streets around the Lighthouse building using your usual mobility aid (for example, cane or guide dog). The tasks in this course will include finding a bus stop, a subway station and building entrances, using street crossing with and with our accessible pedestrian signals, and avoiding obstacles on the route such as scaffolding and people.
A certified O&M instructor and/or a research assistant will walk with you to ensure safety during data collection. We will take notes on how you navigate, what things along the path pose problems and why. We will film you while you walk. We also ask you to tell us about what you are doing and what the challenges are while you navigate.
We are collecting these data to guide the development of wearable navigation system for people with vision loss. As the system is developed, we will ask you to walk the course wearing the technology. Your performance will be recorded, and we will ask for your comments about the good and bad parts of the system.
Compensation: You will be compensated in the amount of $20.
Are you interested in participating? Please contact Lighthouse Guild’s Director of Research Operations, Fernanda Garcia-Piña, at 212-769-7833 or submit a request online.
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Lighthouse Guild is dedicated to providing exceptional services that inspire people who are visually impaired to attain their goals.
