Audio-Tactile Location Markers: Accessible Real-World Tagging for the Blind

R. Schlögl (Austria), M. Tomitsch (Australia), C. Wimmer, T. Grechenig, and K. Kappel (Austria)

Keywords

NFC, touch interaction, assistive technologies, accessibility

Abstract

In this paper we present the concept of Audio-tactile Location Markers (ALMs) as a remedy to the lack of accessibility in current tag-based applications. ALMs are an auxiliary enhancement for existing real-world tags, which propagates their existence and purpose to blind and vision impaired people in the vicinity. Users can activate an audible signal based on a pre-selection of available tags (pull) or choose to be constantly informed about nearby tags (push). We evaluated both methods with blind and vision-impaired people using an NFC-enabled smartphone. Participants experienced no problems locating the ALM based on the audible signal, but required assistance with touching the tag. Pull was favored to push in specific situations.

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