Various types of sonic guidance systems, using multiple speakers, were considered for the purpose of providing navigational clues for vision impaired people traveling on their own or people moving under low visibility conditions. Three types of sonic guidance systems were examined for this study. Each of them consisted of one pair, two pairs or multiple pairs of speakers emitting identical or different sound at various intervals. To provide navigational clue for visually disabled people, a pair of speakers located at both ends of a certain route appeared to be sufficient when different sound signals form a pair. The system using one pair of speakers, however, had a limitation in pinpointing sound sources for users with visual disability. The systems using two pairs of speakers were found to be more advantageous to localize sound sources rather more precisely than that using a pair of speakers. There seem to be a lot of possibilities to introduce these sonic guidance systems into various outdoor or indoor environments for reducing mental stress and danger of visually disabled travelers who walk alone. (A*)
Abstract