This paper summarizes recent developments in audio and tactile \udfeedback based assistive technologies targeting the blind \udcommunity. Current technology allows applications to be \udefficiently distributed and run on mobile and handheld \uddevices, even in cases where computational requirements are \udsignificant. As a result, electronic travel aids, navigational \udassistance modules, text-to-speech applications, as well as \udvirtual audio displays which combine audio with haptic \udchannels are becoming integrated into standard mobile devices. \udThis trend, combined with the appearance of increasingly user-\udfriendly interfaces and modes of interaction has opened a \udvariety of new perspectives for the rehabilitation and \udtraining of users with visual impairments. The goal of this \udpaper is to provide an overview of these developments based on \udrecent advances in basic research and application development. \udUsing this overview as a foundation, an agenda is outlined for \udfuture research in mobile interaction design with respect to \udusers with special needs, as well as ultimately in relation to \udsensor-bridging applications in general
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