Survey on guiding chime at ticket gates of railway stations -through hearing survey to the visually impaired persons and on-site investigation-

摘要

Nowadays, philosophy of barrier-free is widely accepted by many people in the world andpublic space needs to be designed as a view of barrier-free for disabled persons. In Japan,guiding chimes are being hastily installed at ticket gates of railway stations according to thegovernmental guideline about movement support using auditory signs. However, this guidelinedoes not indicate any definite standards on their installation, thus some situations appear wherethe chimes do not work well due to inappropriate installation. This study aims at clarifying thepresent circumstances around the chimes by way of hearing to the visually handicapped andon-site investigation of sound environment in a dozen of stations. The former describes avariety of their usability, specifying the characteristics of the chimes and situations where thechimes are required and helpful for them are clarified; the latter demonstrates the volume of thechimes, the audible areas and the audibility at significant points in the stations. As a result ofthis demonstration, it is clear that the volume differs 23dBA at the maximum in stations andthe influence factors on hearing chimes are various by difference in structures of train station.