Development of an Integrated Off-Grid Audio and Haptic Wearable Vest for Visually Impaired Navigation

Visual impairments afflict millions globally, significantly impacting mobility and quality of life (QoL) for approximately 253 million individuals, including 36 million who are blind. Their most used tools for navigation were guide dogs and white canes; however, their effectiveness is limited by their speed, coverage, and capabilities. Additionally, related systems where internet connectivity-dependent (on-grid). With that, this study proposed an integrated system development of an off-grid audio-haptic wearable vest for visually impaired navigation. Specifically, the study will develop a personalized audio and haptic wearable navigation system tailored for the blind and visually impaired individuals, develop a prototype with IoT capabilities, and assess the system's accuracy by determining the distance and direction for wearable navigation through audio-haptic feedback. Processing GY-273 magnetometer data for bearing and NRF52810 BLE scanning for distance, were completed considering both unobstructed and obstructed real-world scenarios within the school campus. Results showed that system was capable of auditory directional notification such as “turn left”, “turn right” and “destination address” simultaneously with haptic feedback thru vibrations. Also, using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test, for obstructed (real-life) distances, the accuracy ranged is up to 91.43%. While unobstructed distances accuracy was up to 100%. Obstructed (real-life) bearing accuracy from up to 100%, while unobstructed bearing accuracy was also up to 100%. Indicating that there is slight difference between the expected and actual values for distance while bearing measurements prove no difference enabling the seamless integration of haptic and aural commands to improve navigation support for individuals with visual impairments.