SBIR Phase I: Creating Accessible Science Museums for Blind and Visually Impaired Visitors with User-Activated Audio Beacons

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will include the design, implementation and evaluation of a new product intended to improve accessibility to science museums and other public exhibit spaces for visitors who are blind or visually impaired. The proposed system will rely on a network of user-activated audio beacons arrayed throughout an exhibit environment: visitors will control the system using cell phones. A limited but functional, version of the system will be installed at the New York Hall of Science in New York City, and user trials will be carried out to evaluate the system's effectiveness as a navigational tool and as a provider of exhibit-related information. Based on positive findings in Phase I, the next phase of the research will include outfitting the entire museum with a network of user-activated audio beacons, in anticipation of marketing the system, including device, software and installation/service, to other institutions wishing to expand their visitorship, to include members of this growing and often overlooked population. Long-term goals include extending the audience for telephone-based museum guides to mainstream audiences, and developing audio beacon networks for other types of public environments.