Haptics-based, higher-order sensory substitution designed for object negotiation in blindness and low vision: Virtual Whiskers.
Junchi Feng, Giles Hamilton-Fletcher, Todd E Hudson and 3 others
PMID 39982810WHAT IT FOUND
In a small indoor course, Virtual Whiskers used with a white cane often increased completion time.
Open path mode reduced hesitation and cane contacts, while depth mode did not improve these outcomes.
Key findings
01Completion time often increased when Virtual Whiskers was used with a white cane, including 9.9 seconds for depth mode easy tasks and 11.9 seconds for depth mode medium tasks.
02Open path mode used with a white cane reduced hesitation time by 7.4%, 8.5%, and 11.3% and reduced average white cane contacts by 7.1, 6.5, and 13 for easy, medium, and hard tasks.
03Depth mode used with a white cane did not improve hesitation time or white cane contacts compared with white cane alone.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only ten participants were tested, so the findings may not apply to wider groups. The course was a controlled indoor setup with soft air-filled cylinders, not real streets or workplaces. Participants wore occluder glasses that reduced vision to light perception, which standardised the test but may not match everyday vision. Easy and some medium tasks may have been too simple to show differences. The safety-window increases were not confirmed as reliable. No data were reported on comfort, skin irritation, rain, temperature, or safety after a fall. Two participants preferred depth mode despite better open path performance, so user preference may not match measured benefit. The authors have financial interests in related intellectual property and a company licensed to use the patent.
Declared interests
NYU, John-Ross Rizzo, and Todd E. Hudson have financial interests in related intellectual property. NYU owns a patent licensed to Tactile Navigation Tools, and NYU, Rizzo, and Hudson are equity holders and advisors to that company. ChatGPT-4o was used for grammar checking and language refinement.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Virtual Whiskers improves everyday mobility or can replace a white cane. It was tested in a controlled indoor course with ten participants, and depth mode did not improve hesitation time or cane contacts.