Support for Visual Impairment

Wearable technology to assist individuals with visual impairments

Support for Visual Impairment

Passive Haptic Learning for Braille Writing

Megan Caulfield presented the results of her honors thesis, “Braille Learning using Haptic Feedback” at the 2024 IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Sympossium on May 3rd at the University of Virginia. Her research examined the effectiveness of haptic feedback when learning to read and write braille which is motivated by the challenges of sighted parents and teachers learning braille to suppor their visually impaired children and students. She was advised by myself, Dr. Laura Deportes (Education), and Dr. Daniel Castaneda (Engineering). A special thanks also to the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind for allowing us to tour their facilities.

Megan Caulfield Presentation at SIEDS 2024

Peripersonal Navigation

We have significant collaborations with Dr. Sol Lim in the Occupational Ergonomics and Biomechanics (OEB) Laboratories at Virginia Tech. We have directly supported the work of Mahdis Tajdari by developing custom hardware to provide haptic feedback. Her research explores how various haptic patterns help persons with vision impairment locate objects and navigate peripersonal space.

This work has been supported by 4-VA:

  • 4-VA Grant ($30,000, awarded 2022): “Supporting College Students with Impaired Vision in a Shared Housing Through Haptic-Guided Peripersonal Navigation” with Dr. Sol Lim (Virginia Tech, PI) and Dr. Michael Stewart (JMU, Co-PI)

Publications & Presentations

  • Mahdis Tajdari, Jason Forsyth, and Sol Lim, “Navigating with Haptic Gloves: Investigating Strategies for Horizontal and Vertical Movement Guidance,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Vol. 203, September 2025. [Publication]
  • Mahdis Tajdari, Jason Forsyth, and Sol Lim, “Sensitivity to Vibrotactile Stimulation in the Hand and Wrist: Effects of Motion, Temporal Patterns, and Biological Sex,” Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Vol. 64, Issue 4, pp. 331–345, 2024. [Publication]
  • Megan Caulfield, Jason Forsyth, Laura Deportes, and Daniel Castaneda, “Braille Learning using Haptic Feedback”, IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), Charlottesville, VA, 2024 (published as full paper, reviewed as abstract). [Publication]