Supporting Independent Indoor Travel of People with Blindness and Intellectual Disability with Reduced Frequencies of Auditory Cues

Abstract

This study evaluated the feasibility of supporting independent indoor travel using reduced frequencies of auditory cues with two persons having total blindness and profound intellectual disability. For these persons, who had acquired satisfactory travel performance with cues occurring every 8 sec., the cue frequencies were reduced to one-half or one-third of the original level. Analysis showed that both participants could manage accurate travel under the new cue conditions, even though their travel time (efficiency) seemed negatively affected. Implications of the findings were discussed.