Visual Aids Based on Ultrasonic Sensors to Increase Mobility of Patient with Blindness or Low Vision

摘要

Manifestations of ocular pathologies in the visual perception often induce visual impairment, but also discomfort, which motivates the creation of dedicated help. Analyzing the manifestations of different ocular pathologies that occur at birth or with aging, the idea of creating a system for increasing the mobility of patients with low vision or blindness has been outlined. In the first part of the paper, there are presented general aspects related to the changes of the posture and the mobility of the subjects in relation to the decrease of the visual function. In the second part of the paper, there are presented the main aspects of visual aids device designing to increase the mobility of subjects with low vision. These devices are based on ultrasonic sensors to measure distances to the obstacles a patient with blindness or low vision may encounter in his gait or mobility activity for different actions. In the final part of the paper, there are presented the results highlighted in the procedure for evaluating the mobility in gait and the conclusions regarding the method and construction of the devices.