The Multimodal Exhibition: Tangible Interactions for People With Visual Impairments

Abstract

People-with-visual-impairments (PVI) face persistent barriers in interacting with the built environment because design continues to prioritize use of sight. This paper presents a human-centered, multimodal exhibition designed to evaluate six tangible prototypes aimed at enhancing awareness of surroundings, visualization-skills, and tactile-vocabulary for PVI and sighted participants. Prototypes ranged from tactile-sketchboards and audio-enabled-devices to cultural-exploration-tools tested in a guided dark-room experience called the Multimodal Box. Qualitative-interviews and behavioral-observations were used to explore sensory perception, prototype usability and empathy-driven insights. One hundred participants including 35 PVI, engaged with the experience. Post-exhibition experience interviews revealed significant shifts in participants’ spatial-awareness and understanding of non-visual-navigation. Notably, over 90% of PVI found at least two prototypes applicable in daily life—Tactosketchboard and Magic Platform. By evaluating tangible-interventions in a near-realistic setting, this research contributes to the discourse on inclusive interaction design—encouraging co-designed systems that empower PVI to independently engage with their world through multi-sensory modalities.