Technology and instructions to help people with blindness and intellectual disability manage indoor travel: a case series study

We evaluated a new technology system designed to help eight people with blindness and intellectual disability navigate indoor routes 70- to 140-meter long. The technology system entailed (a) a smartphone linked to two barcode readers that the participants wore, (b) barcodes printed on A-4 sheets of paper and displayed along the travel routes, and (c) a mini speaker. The technology system was set to provide verbal instructions at specific points of the travel routes to guide the participants to the destinations (to help them complete the scheduled traveling trials correctly). Each participant was exposed to an ABAB design in which A and B represented baseline phases (without system) and intervention phases (with system), respectively. During the first baseline phase, the participants did not complete any traveling trial correctly (i.e., without research assistants' guidance). During the first intervention phase, the participants' percentage of traveling trials completed correctly increased to 83-97. The percentage declined during the second baseline phase and increased again (to 93-98) during the second intervention phase. The findings suggest that the new system providing verbal instructions at specific points of the travel routes can help people with blindness and intellectual disability reach their scheduled destinations.