Digital touch perception for teaching visual impairment people

Authors

Keywords:

Cognitive appreciation, visually impaired people, virtual reality systems, tactile perception

Abstract

The cognitive perception of scenes or objects of large or very small size, such as the architecture of a building or the anatomy of a cell, is based mainly on the visual appreciation of the scene or object through photographs, computer images, or the physical presence. However, in the case of visually impaired people, visual appreciation cannot be used, so the cognitive process is based on auditory and tactile appreciation. Nevertheless, tactile appreciation is practically impossible when dealing with very small or extremely large objects or scenes.

In this work, the use of the tactile appreciation by computer, also known as digital touch or virtual touch, is proposed as an educational communication strategy for people with visual disabilities. Digital tactile appreciation is achieved with haptic systems, which add the sense of touch to the human-computer interaction, allowing the user to touch or feel virtual scenes or objects. The results obtained show that participants with visual disabilities can learn to identify objects using digital touch by computer.

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Author Biographies

Raquel Espinosa-Castañeda, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí

Raquel Espinosa Castañeda completó sus estudios de posgrado en 2006 en el Edinburgh College of Art perteneciente a la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales en Comunicación Visual de la Universidad de Edimburgo en el Reino Unido. Actualmente es profesora investigadora de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación de la Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. Sus intereses de investigación comprenden las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación para una educación accesible e inclusiva, la percepción multisensorial para personas ciegas y el impacto social de las nuevas tecnologías.

Hugo Iván Medellín-Castillo, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí

Hugo Iván Medellín Castillo completó sus estudios de doctorado en Ingeniería Mecánica en 2005 en la Universidad Heriot-Watt en el Reino Unido. Desde 2006 es Profesor en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. Miembro de la Sociedad Americana de Ingenieros Mecánicos (ASME), de la Sociedad Mexicana de Ingenieros Mecánicos (SOMIM) y del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) en México. Autor de más de 200 publicaciones de investigación en revistas, congresos y libros de prestigio. El Dr. Medellín es Sus intereses de investigación incluyen el desarrollo y análisis de sistemas de realidad virtual y herramientas digitales con aplicaciones en ingeniería, medicina y la educación, en particular la educación inclusiva.

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Published

2022-01-29

How to Cite

Espinosa-Castañeda, R., & Medellín-Castillo, H. I. (2022). Digital touch perception for teaching visual impairment people. Prisma Social Journal, (36), 195–219. Retrieved from https://revistaprismasocial.es/ps/article/view/4583

Issue

No. 36 (2022): Comunicación, Discapacidad y Empleabilidad en la Sociedad Digital

Section

Sección temática

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