Vassilios Argyropoulos

Auditory Discriminations of Typographic Attributes of Documents by Students with Blindness

The general purpose of the present study was to test the effectiveness of various psycho-acoustic manipulations for the understanding of specific information (typographic attributes such as bold and italic) which was included in texts by individuals with and without blindness. Thirty blind and thirty sighted students participated and were asked to distinguish a number of controlled conditions of auditory components, as well as to express their preferences and opinions on the prosody of the selected acoustic features (pitch, volume and speed of the synthetic speech). Findings indicated that there were significant interactions between groups and experimental conditions across variables. The outcomes of the present study provided a rough assessment of the auditory means that may be conducive to the understanding of the specific typographic attributes. Based on these findings Text-to-Speech systems can deliver such information with all the appropriate auditory prosody in order to facilitate blind students’ memorization and comprehension and enhance inclusion.

An Experimental Approach in Conceptualizing Typographic Signals of Documents by Eight-Dot and Six-Dot Braille Code

The main research aim of the present study focuses on issues of reading comprehension, when users with blindness receive typographic meta-data by touch through a braille display. Levels of reading comprehension are investigated by the use of 6-dot and 8-dot braille code in matched texts for the cases of bold and italic meta-data. The results indicated a slight superiority of the 8-dot braille code in reading time and scorings. The discussion considered the practical implications of the findings such as issues regarding education as well as the development of suitable design of tactile rendition of typographic signals through 6-dot or 8-dot braille code in favor of better perception and comprehension.

Hand preference of individuals with blindness in everyday activities: The effects of age of sight loss, age, and gender

The research aims of the present study were: (a) to assess the hand preference of blind persons in everyday activities on the basis of gender, type of blindness, and age; and (b) to conduct the above analysis at both the item level and the latent trait level, after concluding the optimum factor structure of the instrument. Participants were 82 individuals with visual impairments and blindness. Their mean age was 29.99 years. Handedness was evaluated using a modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971). When comparing handedness preferences across age of sight loss, gender, and age groups results indicated that there were significant differences in preference for several everyday tasks across age of sight loss and age groups but not gender. These results were also confirmed at the latent-trait mean level. The present findings add to the extant literature that highlighted hand preferences for individuals with visual impairments and blindness.

Collaborative Action Research Approach Promoting Professional Development for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment in Assistive Technology

Abstract This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research project which aimed to facilitate the adoption of assistive technology devices and specialized software ...

Patterns of Blind Users’ Hand Movements

The main focus of the present study lies on patterns and characteristics of hand movements when participants with blindness receive typographic meta-data (bold and italic) by touch through a braille display. Patterns and characteristics were investigated by the use of six-dot braille and eight-dot braille code in conjunction with types of reading errors. The results depicted that the participants’ reading errors (phonological type) were similar in both braille codes. In addition, the participants performed more fluid hand movements when they used the six-dot braille code, whereas they spent less time when they were reading through eight-dot braille. The focus of the discussion was placed on the importance of the development of a suitable design of tactile rendition of typographic signals through six or eight-dot braille code in favor of better perception and comprehension.

The role of DAISY digital talking books in the education of individuals with blindness: A pilot study

The present study is characterized as pilot and investigates the impact that different aural renderings have on blind individuals’ comprehension. In specific, the present research attempts to compare the effective or active listening of participants with blindness when they use different media; that is, digital talking scripts through synthetic speech and DAISY standard respectively. Five participants with blindness were invited to listen to matched scripts through DAISY technology and screen reader software respectively. The results revealed significant differences in participants’ comprehension when they listened to digital talking scripts through DAISY standard and screen reader software. The participants applied more complex navigational routes and their responses towards comprehension questions were more correctly when the scripts were rendered through DAISY technology rather than through screen reader software. It is argued that DAISY technology could prove to be vital aid in blind individuals’ schooling and workplace. Finally, the results from this study support that further research has to be done especially on qualitative basis in order to document the parameters of the impact that aural technology, such as DAISY technology, have on blind students’ understanding and development of their literacy skills.

Reading Comprehension Issues and Individuals with Visual Impairments: The Effects of Using 8-dot and 6-dot Braille Code Through a Braille Display

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of 6-dot and 8-dot braille code on the reading comprehension ability of individuals with severe visual impairments and/or blindness when the latter receive typographic meta-data (bold and italic) by touch through a braille display. Also, patterns of hand movements were investigated and related to issues of comprehension. The most important finding related to the superiority of the 8-dot braille code in predicting reading comprehension in individuals with severe visual impairments. It was also found that reading comprehension was particularly predicted from the negative relationship between participants’ fluency and comprehension. It was conjectured that all comparisons between conditions were significant suggesting that the present findings were likely robust and not reflective of idiosyncrasies in the sample. The focus of the discussion was placed on the importance of conducting additional research increasing the sample size with more extensive training for those who will constitute the extended sample.

Assessing Self-Regulation in Individuals With Visual Impairments: Generality Versus Specificity in Self-Regulatory Functioning

The purpose of the present study was to assess self-regulation of students with visual impairments across two academic subjects, language and math. The participants were 46 Greek students with visual impairments who completed self-regulation measures across the subject matters of language and math. Initially, the factorial validity of the scale was established. In turn, results pointed to the existence of a single universal self-regulation functioning pattern in individuals with visual impairments across subject matters (at the mean level). Measurement invariance was also observed at the item level through imposing equality constraints between items from different subjects. Based on the findings, it is suggested that self-regulation is not context specific for individuals with visual impairments.