Evaluation and Development of Tactile Walking Surface Indicators useful in Aged Society

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26350665
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Okayama Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: MASAKI TAUCHI 岡山県立大学, 保健福祉学部, 特命研究員 (00075425)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 中村 孝文 岡山県立大学, 保健福祉学部, 教授 (70144061)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚障害者誘導用ブロック / 点字ブロック / 視覚障害者 / 高齢者 / 車椅子 / 振動 / 転倒 / つまづき

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Since the tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) for the blind and visually impaired (BVIPs) were developed in 1967, their height has been set to 5 mm or more even after the enactment of TWSIs' standardization in 2001. This was to compensate for the detection and discrimination of linear and dot-like protrusions of braille blocks in various installation environments. However, it is thought that aged society is reached, and its height can hinder the elderly walking and cause falls. Therefore, we lowered the protrusion height of the TWSIs and searched for whether the user can detect with the sole of the foot or the cane, and the condition that elderly persons or wheelchair's passing on TWSIs does not have much sense of incongruity. The result of the experiments indicated that the height of 3.5 to 4.0 mm was found to be necessary to compromise both BVIPs and elderly pedestrians.

Free Research Field

福祉工学