| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to create a better environment for the visually handicapped and the non-handicapped to live in together. When pedestrian spaces are designed for the visually handicapped, it is supposed to be necessary to take their characteristics of spatial cognition into consideration. We conducted questionnaires on 473 visually handicapped persons living in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1996 to investigate their psychological structure about the use of the information for route cognition. Respondents were asked what for they use auditory and tactile information when they walk around in their daily life. The questionnaire was made up of 74 questions sconsisting of combinations of 17 information sentences and 8 usage sentences, based on facet theory. Added to these, age, sex, degree of handicap, remembrance of visual representation, frequency of going out, travel aid, experience of walking training and grasp of direction of destinations when walking in town were asked.283 were responded among 473, and 262 (55.4% of 473 questionnaires) were valid. The result confirmed that the use of information for the blind mainly has two hierarchical levles. The use of information for spatial cognition of surroundings, higher-level use, participates with constructing two dimensional images of geographic structure. And construction of two dimensional images of geographic structure depends on their walking experience and training. The partially sighted tend to depend on visual information for spatial cognition, and pay much attention to audible or tactile information to avoid danger.
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