An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals

It has always been a challenge for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people to comprehend the information on tactile graphics materials. Despite the advancements in tactile graphic design, a comprehensive understanding of how they explore and interpret raised-line tactile graphics is still lacking....

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Main Authors: Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin, Hazlina Md Yusof, Shahrul Na’im Sidek, Aimi Shazwani Ghazali
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/1/kejut_22.pdf
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author Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin,
Hazlina Md Yusof,
Shahrul Na’im Sidek,
Aimi Shazwani Ghazali,
author_facet Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin,
Hazlina Md Yusof,
Shahrul Na’im Sidek,
Aimi Shazwani Ghazali,
author_sort Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It has always been a challenge for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people to comprehend the information on tactile graphics materials. Despite the advancements in tactile graphic design, a comprehensive understanding of how they explore and interpret raised-line tactile graphics is still lacking. To bridge this gap, this paper introduces a fingertip tracking system employing color marker detection algorithm to investigate the cognitive process of four totally blind participants associated with the Malaysian Association for The Blind (MAB). Each participant was provided with five distinct kinds of raised-line tactile graphics for reading, and their reading activities were afterwards recorded. All participants exhibited diverse interpretations, exploration times, and difficulty perceptions, showcasing the subjective nature of cognitive processing. It is identified that the complex diagram took longer time of exploration with an average time of 141 seconds compared the simple diagram with an average time of 27.5 seconds. It shows that the complexity of the diagrams did impact participants’ cognitive process. Based on the distribution and concentration of fingertip locations, every tactile graphic has salient regions that have been focused on by every participant for recognition and interpretation of the information. It was also identified that the frequently performed exploratory procedures among participants were contour following and lateral motions. However, their reading strategies were too random and lacked systematic patterns. The system aims to be an instrument for visualising the cognitive process underpinning the exploration and interpretation of tactile graphics by people with visual impairment and blindness.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:253932025-06-24T07:49:40Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/ An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin, Hazlina Md Yusof, Shahrul Na’im Sidek, Aimi Shazwani Ghazali, It has always been a challenge for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people to comprehend the information on tactile graphics materials. Despite the advancements in tactile graphic design, a comprehensive understanding of how they explore and interpret raised-line tactile graphics is still lacking. To bridge this gap, this paper introduces a fingertip tracking system employing color marker detection algorithm to investigate the cognitive process of four totally blind participants associated with the Malaysian Association for The Blind (MAB). Each participant was provided with five distinct kinds of raised-line tactile graphics for reading, and their reading activities were afterwards recorded. All participants exhibited diverse interpretations, exploration times, and difficulty perceptions, showcasing the subjective nature of cognitive processing. It is identified that the complex diagram took longer time of exploration with an average time of 141 seconds compared the simple diagram with an average time of 27.5 seconds. It shows that the complexity of the diagrams did impact participants’ cognitive process. Based on the distribution and concentration of fingertip locations, every tactile graphic has salient regions that have been focused on by every participant for recognition and interpretation of the information. It was also identified that the frequently performed exploratory procedures among participants were contour following and lateral motions. However, their reading strategies were too random and lacked systematic patterns. The system aims to be an instrument for visualising the cognitive process underpinning the exploration and interpretation of tactile graphics by people with visual impairment and blindness. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/1/kejut_22.pdf Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin, and Hazlina Md Yusof, and Shahrul Na’im Sidek, and Aimi Shazwani Ghazali, (2024) An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals. Jurnal Kejuruteraan, 36 (3). pp. 1103-1125. ISSN 0128-0198 https://www.ukm.my/jkukm/volume-3603-2024/
spellingShingle Muhammad Ikmal Hakim Shamsul Bahrin,
Hazlina Md Yusof,
Shahrul Na’im Sidek,
Aimi Shazwani Ghazali,
An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title_full An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title_fullStr An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title_full_unstemmed An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title_short An early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
title_sort early investigation into raised-line tactile graphics reading behavior among blind and visually impaired individuals
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25393/1/kejut_22.pdf