Maximizing Learning Outcomes in Tests and Evaluations of Mobility Aids for Blind and Low-Vision Individuals in the “Audomni” Project

Book chapter, 2026

This chapter addresses prevalent issues in evaluating electronic travel aids (ETA) for people with blindness or low vision (BLV): no established methods and measures; methods that do get used tend to poorly reflect real-world mobility; measures that do get used tend to be ineffective; perspectives of the target demographic are underutilized; device proposals are mostly evaluated “in a vacuum”; too few BLV participants are recruited; and long-term testing is much too rare. These issues are then examined through four conducted or planned user studies in the Audomni ETA research project, aimed to be aid-independent. The studies are presented with their foundational rationale, test design, and data collection, as well as analysis and evaluation. To tackle the issues, a design model, a portable VR system, and a questionnaire have been developed—motivated from issues of the first study. These were used in the second and the latest study in VR to arguably avoid the majority of the issues, which likely facilitated the meaningful learning outcomes of the study. Two tentative user studies are also proposed, one short-term study that mirrors the VR tests in real-life, and one long-term study that feasibly could demonstrate increased mobility through use of an ETA.