An audible pedestrian signals system using infrared beacon

When visually impaired persons walk on a road to cross an intersection, they must acquire environment information accurately to reach the intersection and cross the road safely, relying on their mental map. Although various devices have been developed and utilized, some problems are still not solved. To provide help to visually impaired people, we have developed an audible pedestrian signals system and conducted an evaluation test at Shinyokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Our system was shown to be effective for the visually impaired to obtain information personally, to judge the direction to the destination and to judge the timing to start crossing the road. In an intelligent transport system, it is one of the major issue to develop a barrier free environment for pedestrians. This system is universal and intended to cover the aged as well as the people with visually impairment