Project Grant R01EY024302

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (CFDA 47.070 - Computer and Information Science and Engineering program) to the University of Maine System provides $1,126,197 to develop a multisensory navigation assistance tool to aid individuals with visual impairments. The three-year project aims to: Identify information access requirements and optimize delivery via multisensory smartphone interfaces to support indoor navigation for blind and visually impaired individuals. Create...

This Project Grant award of $1,009,268 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Eye Institute (NEI), under the Vision Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.867), aims to develop and evaluate a multimodal, chat-based digital thematic map viewer called AUDIOM. The goal is to transform the accessibility of digital thematic maps for the 285 million blind and low vision individuals worldwide. AUDIOM is designed to be fully compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines...

The National Eye Institute (NEI) awarded a $504,984 Project Grant under the Vision Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.867) to the University of Maine System for the "PROJECT MULTINAV: A GAMIFIED MULTISENSORY TRAINING AND NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE" project. This two-phase R61/R33 project aims to develop an integrated, multisensory navigation solution called "MultiNAV" that converges pre-journey map learning with in-situ navigation assistance...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Project Grant, awarded under CFDA 47.041 Engineering, will leverage virtual reality (VR) and wearable technologies to study how individuals with visual impairment navigate through crowded urban environments. The $300,000 grant, awarded to New York University, aims to elucidate the sensorimotor interactions and cognitive processes underpinning the navigation of persons with visual impairment through...

This $559,871 Project Grant awarded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) under the federal Vision Research grant program (CFDA 93.867) aims to develop a refreshable Braille and tactile graphic device with multipoint touch sensing. The goal is to create a direct manipulation interface for blind and visually impaired computer users that is equivalent to the graphical user interface for sighted users. The device will enable blind users to directly manipulate screen objects using drag-and-drop,...

The National Eye Institute (NEI) awarded a $631,137 Project Grant titled "VISIONWAY: ACCESSIBILITY-AWARE PATH SELECTION FOR WAYFINDING" to The Ohio State University on September 1, 2025. This grant is part of the NEI's Vision Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.867), which supports research aimed at understanding, preventing, and treating vision-related conditions and diseases. The goal of this project is to develop a mobile "VISIONWAY" framework as a wayfinding tool...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (CFDA 93.173 - Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders) provides $306,073 to Iotamotion, Inc. to develop a navigation-based cochlear implant insertion system that optimizes trajectory and enables slow, consistent electrode array insertions. The goal is to improve short and long-term hearing outcomes for cochlear implant patients by enhancing structural preservation of the...

The National Eye Institute (NEI) awarded a $616,316 Project Grant to the Regents of the University of Michigan, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027, under the Vision Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.867). The purpose of this grant is to develop a multi-modal, hands-free user interface embedded in a glasses frame to provide non-visual guidance for navigation and improve the functionality and usability of existing smartphone-based assistive technology for the over 7 million...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $570,780 Project Grant under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program to Lehigh University to develop an inclusive community-wide location-based services system called CityGuide. The project aims to design, deploy, and evaluate seamless and scalable indoor/outdoor location-based services that provide auxiliary wayfinding, emergency evacuation, remote assistance, and transit support for people with disabilities and the...

The Project Grant award of $621,250 from the National Eye Institute's Vision Research program (CFDA 93.867) is supporting the development of a gaze-contingent AI-enabled low vision assistive technology (GALVAT) system. The project is being led by The Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with the Chicago Lighthouse, Applied Universal Dynamics Corp, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The goal is to reduce information overload for visually impaired users by defining a gaze-contingent...