The central aims of the proposed bioengineering research partnership (BRP) are: to use the strengths of a multi-disciplinary team to understand the perceptual and cognitive requirements of negotiating complex intersections without vision and with low vision; to design and test engineering and training solutions to problems of information access that are currently known and that are identified in the course of this partnership; and to produce materials about the problems and solutions that are useful to transportation engineers, individuals with visual impairments, and rehabilitation and clinical personnel. The BRP will focus on intersections that are complex by virtue of their size, shape, and/or signalization. The partnership will involve teams of engineers, rehabilitation professionals, and experimental psychologists from Western Michigan University (WMU), the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center (UNC-HSRC), Vanderbilt University (VU), Boston College (BC), and the Maryland School for the Blind (MSB). Pedestrian safety has been recognized as a major public health concern. For pedestrians with blindness and low vision, many of the traditional approaches to negotiating intersections are no longer effective, and this has led to increased personal risk and to the potential for decreased quality of life. It is essential that blindness researchers work collaboratively with engineers in order to find ways to address real needs and to realistically deal with the human interface requirements of access technology for persons with visual impairments. The lead institution for the partnership is Western Michigan University, and there will be collaboration across teams on most projects. The University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research team will provide transportation engineering support to the other teams of researchers and will take the lead in the dissemination activities of the partnership. The Boston College team will investigate characteristics of accessible pedestrian signals, with the goal of developing more useful signals. The Vanderbilt team will also work to develop more useful pedestrian signals and will conduct basic acoustics research about the perception of moving sound sources as this relates to street crossing. In addition, they will develop a two-speaker auditory motion display as a research and training tool. The Maryland School for the Blind team has specific expertise in low vision mobility and will conduct research concerning eye gaze strategies and mental effort during street crossings. The WMU team will investigate street crossing behavior at roundabout intersections, the effects of various detectable warning materials on nonvisual street detection and on the safety of persons with other mobility impairments, and the use of tactile cues for street-crossing alignment. WMU engineers and blind rehabilitation faculty also will also develop the """"""""Anti-Veering Training Device"""""""" to reduce veering during street crossing.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Resource-Related Research Projects (R24)
Project #
3R24EY012894-02S1
Application #
6554759
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1 (09))
Program Officer
Oberdorfer, Michael
Project Start
2000-07-01
Project End
2005-05-31
Budget Start
2001-06-01
Budget End
2002-05-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$14,666
Indirect Cost
Name
Western Michigan University
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Schools of Allied Health Profes
DUNS #
City
Kalamazoo
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
49008
Maloff, Erin S; Grantham, D Wesley; Ashmead, Daniel H (2013) Human sensitivity to differences in the rate of auditory cue change. J Acoust Soc Am 133:2867-75
Salamati, Katayoun; Schroeder, Bastian; Rouphail, Nagui M et al. (2012) Development and Implementation of a Conflict-based Assessment of Pedestrian Safety (CAPS) to Evaluate Accessibility of Complex Intersections. Transp Res Rec 2011:148-155
Ashmead, Daniel H; Grantham, D Wesley; Maloff, Erin S et al. (2012) Auditory perception of motor vehicle travel paths. Hum Factors 54:437-53
Schroeder, Bastian J; Rouphail, Nagui M (2011) Empirical Behavioral Models to Support Alternative Tools for the Analysis of Mixed-Priority Pedestrian-Vehicle Interaction in a Highway Capacity Context. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 16:653-663
Schroeder, Bastian J; Rouphail, Nagui M (2011) Event-Based Modeling of Driver Yielding Behavior at Unsignalized Crosswalks. J Transp Eng 137:455-465
Schroeder, Bastian J; Rouphail, Nagui M; Hughes, Ronald G (2010) Working Concept of Accessibility: Performance Measures for Usability of Crosswalks by Pedestrians with Vision Impairments. Transp Res Rec 2140:103-110
Schroeder, Bastian J; Rouphail, Nagui M (2010) Mixed-Priority Pedestrian Delay Models at Single-Lane Roundabouts. Transp Res Rec :129-138
Barlow, Janet M; Scott, Alan C; Bentzen, Billie Louise (2009) Audible Beaconing with Accessible Pedestrian Signals. AER J 2:149-158
Grantham, D Wesley; Willhite, Joel Andrew; Frampton, Kenneth D et al. (2005) Reduced order modeling of head related impulse responses for virtual acoustic displays. J Acoust Soc Am 117:3116-25