A white cane modified with ultrasonic detectors for people with visual impairment

Abstract

Background: A white cane is the most common equipment used by the blind for navigation. However, a cane can detect obstacles only at ground level, while many physical barriers can be at mid-body or head level. Objectives: The aim of this study was to create a white cane with ultrasonic sensors that could detect objects at waist and head levels. Materials and methods: Ten blindfolded participants, 5 males and 5 females, were recruited by means of purposive sampling into the study. All these participants tested the efficacy of the modified cane by walking through 3 obstacle spots; the first was a barrier at head level; the second and third were barriers at waist level. The instruments used were: 1) The Satisfaction Assessment for Assistive Devices and 2) the electrical and assembly compartments for the ultrasonic detector. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The results demonstrated that all blindfolded participants could get through the three testing stations by using the modified white cane. They also revealed high satisfaction with both the usability and efficiency of the modified cane. The highest satisfaction in usability was for the size of the cane (x±SD = 4.50±0.533). Participants also reported very high satisfaction with the efficiency of the cane in detecting objects at mid-body (x±SD = 4.70±0.48) and head levels (x±SD = 4.50±0.53). Conclusion: All these results indicated that the modified cane with ultrasonic detectors was beneficial for detecting objects at mid-body and head levels in visually impaired people.