Information is also not available on the use of electronic travel aids. More extensive follow-up studies are needed to determine the usefulness and success of particular devices. Related to the use of electronic travel aids is the problem of the assessment of mobility performance in general. In this report we show that significant advances have been made in the development of objective measures of overt performance. These measures have not received widespread distribution, however, in part due to inadequate documentation of the techniques and the requirement for specialized measurement equipment to apply them.
Mobility is undertaken with a purpose in mind, that of reaching a destination.
We have attempted to outline the nature of the perceptual processes and the cognitive knowledge base available to the blind pedestrian. In the absence of a sufficient theory of mobility, however, the theoretical underpinnings of blind mobility depend on the research traditions in perception and cognition. Unfortunately, research with blind individuals has received far too little attention by experienced investigators, although there are some notable exceptions. Research is needed on how much information is required by the blind traveler, the use of natural cue correspondence, the role of information redundancy, orientation in space, and the nature of the perceptual-motor learning processes that underlie the use of mobility aids. The visual system is capable of resolving information in both the immediate and remote environments, but this is not always true for auditory or somatosensory modalities.