Hi Aaruni, The Ausion is similar to the K-sonar though at a fraction of the cost. It is primarily meant for above chest level obstacles. You hold the device in your hand and scan your environment. I am planning to order it for testing. I have the IIT device. Again, you need to scan your environment and you get tactile feedback in terms of different vibration patterns based on distance. In most tactile based systems, you do not get a sense of texture. You may get this in the ausion and in the K-Sonar because they support continuous scanning and can better render texture information using sound.
The question though is what do you mean by better mobility? If it is detecting drop offs and steps, there appears to be nothing to match the white cane. The EyeCane may have a fighting chance but I do not know if it is commercially available. If you navigate in office spaces, then the smart cane and the ausion may work just as well. The thing with any aid using ultrasound is that it does not answer the question "what." You know something is there but you need to build a database of sound patterns to identify the obstacle. However, if you take something like the vOICe, it will tell you what you are looking at but it is not particularly good at rendering distance information. As of this writing, you need to combine sensory substitution devices and ultrasound based devices for the best mobility experience. For the vOICe, you could use your Android phone or grab a dedicated unit from http://www.after-sight.com/ This is probably more than you wanted to know but mobility aides are an interest of mine and something that I am exploring actively. Pranav Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
