VisionWay Accessibility

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Persons With Visual Disabilities

In brief

The challenge of outdoor wayfinding, critical for People with Visual Impairments (PVI), consists in helping users safely walk to a pre-determined nearby destination. The main focus of existing solutions from research and industry is to leverage the user's smartphone to receive safe moving directions either from a remote operator or smart app. However, multiple paths may exist to connect users with their destination, each one with unique characteristics in terms of accessibility and safety. Unfortunately, little to no attention has been paid in helping PVI decide, before even starting to walk, which path to take based on their accessibility. Thus, a barrier identified is that the followed path may not be accessible because sidewalk features such as potholes, uncontrolled crossing, interrupted sidewalks, and objects are not known in advance. The investigators' goal is to develop a mobile live, local, outside map framework called VisionWay, customized for PVI-user as a wayfinding tool to analyze, before starting to walk, the accessibility of candidate paths and choose one to the destination.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT07713979
Run by: Ohio State University
People needed: 100
Starts: 2026-02-26
Expected to finish: 2027-09-01
Last updated by the study team: 2026-07-20

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

At least 18 years old
Able to provide informed consent
Vision worse than 20/200, encompassing PVI with severe and profound impairment as well as total blindness.
Group 1 Inclusion:
PVI meeting general inclusion criteria and without mobility aids
Group 2 Inclusion:
PVI meeting general inclusion criteria and who use a cane as a mobility aid
Group 3 Inclusion:
PVI meeting general inclusion criteria and who use guide dogs.

You may not qualify if…

Conditions that prevent safe ambulation that include, but are not limited to, neuromuscular disorder, post-operative state (such as orthopedic surgeries or cardiac surgeries), balance issues, history of falls in the last 6 months, or at the discretion of the investigator.
Use of walker or wheelchair

Where it is running

University of Maine — Orono, Maine, United States (enrolling)
Ohio State University — Columbus, Ohio, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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