Improving mealtime experiences of people with visual impairments

A number of studies have been conducted to understand the accessibility issues that people with visual impairments experience. However, most of these are limited to navigation and object recognition tasks. In this study, we focused on providing mealtime assistance. We first conducted a preliminary online survey with 91 participants and an in-depth interview study with eight participants with visual impairments and two social workers. Based on the findings, we identified various difficulties that people with visual impairments face during mealtimes, and types of dish-related information they wish to get before and during meals. To understand the implications for designing the interaction of a meal assistance system for people with visual impairments, we then implemented a prototype in a virtual environment and conducted another user study with 7 participants for evaluation. Reflecting the findings, we suggest design recommendations for a future meal assistance system for people with visual impairments so that they can enjoy their meals independently.