Helping Visually Impaired Users Properly Aim a Camera

Abstract

We evaluate three interaction modes to assist visually impaired users during the camera aiming process: speech, tone, and silent feedback. Our main assumption is that users are able to spatially localize what they want to photograph, and roughly aim the camera in the appropriate direction. Thus, small camera motions are sufficient for obtaining a good composition. Results in the context of documenting accessibility barriers related to public transportation show that audio feedback is valuable. Visually impaired users were not affected by audio feedback in terms of social comfort. Furthermore, we observed trends in favor of speech over tone, including higher ratings for ease of use. This study reinforces earlier work that suggests users who are blind or low vision find assisted photography appealing and useful.