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Using the HoloLens' Spatial Sound System to aid the Visually Impaired when Navigating Indoors

Zijlstra, A.T. (2017) Using the HoloLens' Spatial Sound System to aid the Visually Impaired when Navigating Indoors. Master's Thesis / Essay, Computing Science.

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Abstract

In this study, the use of the HoloLens to aid visually impaired people when navigating indoors was explored. The HoloLens is an augmented reality system in the form of a cordless head mounted computer. The device has a spatial sound system that could be used in order to guide a visually impaired person through an unfamiliar building. To find out how accurately people can localise sounds produced by the HoloLens’ spatial sound system we developed an augmented reality application that can gen- erate a sound at different angles and distances from the participant. In the first experiment the user had to point in the direction of the sound. The angle of devia- tion was used as a measure of the accuracy. In the second experiment a sound was used to guide a person over a path through a room without any visual cues or obsta- cles. The combination of both experiments was implemented in a proof of concept that guides a person through a building. Different types of sounds were tried and both visually impaired and sighted people participated in the experiments. Results showed that people can consistently localise spatial sounds with a de- viation less than 10° and often less than 5°. The results of the second experiment showed that all participants are capable of walking the optimal path at a convenient pace. This result was repeated in the proof of concept. Taken together our results demonstrate the great potential of the HoloLens to help visually impaired people navigate indoors with high accuracy.

Item Type: Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Degree programme: Computing Science
Thesis type: Master's Thesis / Essay
Language: English
Date Deposited: 15 Feb 2018 08:34
Last Modified: 15 Feb 2018 08:34
URI: https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/16312

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