Evaluation of multimodal graphs for blind people

This paper introduces the development of a multimodal data visualisation system and its evaluations. This system is designed to improve blind and visually impaired peoples access to graphs and tables. Force feedback, synthesized speech and non-speech audio are utilised to present graphical data to blind people. Through the combination of haptic and audio representations, users can explore virtual graphs rendered by a computer. Various types of graphs and tables have been implemented, and a three-stage evaluation has been conducted. The experimental results have proven the usability of the system and the benefits of the multimodal approach. The paper presents the details of the development and experimental findings, as well as the changes of role of haptics in the evaluation.