2019 Volume 7 Issue 3 Pages 134-141
A survey was conducted on the use of ICT devices by blind and visually impaired people. Of the 303 respondents, 180 (59.4%) used feature phones (keitai), 161 (53.1%) used smartphones, 64 (21.1%) used tablets, and 285 (94.1%) used personal computers. The usage rate of smartphones doubled, and that of feature phones decreased by about 20%. The higher the age was, the higher the usage rate of feature phones and the lower that of smartphones became. The text entry methods on touchscreens with a screen reader varied greatly between blind and low vision people and between smartphones and tablets. Vision aid apps such as for GPS navigation and object recognition were used by more than half of the blind smartphone users.
