Citation

Surakka A, Kivelä T. Vis. Impair. Res. 2006; 8(3): 41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13882350601061968

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to develop an effective and simple method for training the accuracy of 90-degree turns in visually impaired and deaf-blind subjects. The secondary purpose was to develop a quick, reliable, non-interfering method for measuring 90-degree turning. Method: Pre-training measurements were performed in four visually impaired and four deaf-blind subjects (6 females, 2 males; mean age: 53.4 years). Seven of these subjects underwent training followed by post-training measurements. The training was carried out using the corner of a rubber-backed doormat as the angle of reference. The turning angle was measured with the help of reflectors attached to the heels of the subjects' shoes. The positions of the reflectors before and after turning were captured by a camera. Special software calculated the means and standard deviations of the turning angles and compared pre-training and post-training deviations using the Fligner-Policello statistical test. Results: The 20-minute-long training improved the accuracy of 90-degree turning in all subjects in whom the preliminary measurements showed a need for training: six subjects for right turns and seven for left turns. A statistically significant improvement of the mean error was found for left turns in particular: < 0.01 in four subjects and < 0.05 in one subject. Discussion and conclusion: The training method used in this study was simple. The results indicated that the training method is effective. The measuring method produced output automatically without interfering with normal turning.

Language: en