THE EFFECT OF TACTILE-BASED SIGNAGE DESIGN INTERVENTION ON THE WAYFINDING PERFORMANCE OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS THROUGH NAVIGATION TASK

Abstract

Loss of visual function reduces the accessibility of the environment. A person's ability to move around is closely related to their skills in wayfinding, i.e. finding clues and mental mapping. Individuals with visual impairment use non-visual sensory aspects, such as tactile clues, to form a cognitive map of the structure of the environment. Navigating new and complex environments can cause confusion, anxiety and take longer. Environmental interventions through tactile-based media conditioned into signage design are still scarce, therefore this study aims to try to identify the different roles of three design conditions namely; Rised lines (RL), Texture (TX) and Elevated Graphics (EG) on the wayfinding performance of visually impaired individuals through a navigation task. Data collection involved an experiment with the participation of totally blind and low vision individuals in a simulated environment with three design conditions: raised lines, textures and raised graphics. The experimental process used spatial tasks including; navigation tasks. Measurements on the navigation task used questionnaires and duration scores. This experiment used repeated measure procedures on the three tactile design conditions, as well as a randomized sequence of conditions. The data obtained were analyzed through statistics using the repeated measure ANOVA test to test the effect and difference of the intervention of the three tactile sensor-based signage designs. The findings showed that there was no significant difference in the navigation experience, but there was a significant difference in the navigation task duration score. The Rised Lines (RL) condition showed good performance especially in the aspect of duration score. This research has concluded that, tactile-based signage design has a significant role to help blind individuals understand the environment. This signage design is expected to be a medium for blind individuals, especially special education students in practicing orientation & mobility skills properly.