Division on Visual Impairments

DVI Quarterly Volume 59(1)

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

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The Possibilities for Using K-Sonar with Individuals who are Deaf-Blind Tessa McCarthy North Carolina Central University Jill K. Bohlen Lincoln Public Schools The two most popular mobility tools for individuals who are blind and visually impaired (VI) are canes and dog guides (Marston & Golledge, 2003). In addition to canes and dog guides, there are also a wide variety of electronic travel aids (ETA) which provide haptic or auditory feedback to students. Some of these devices are meant to be used as stand-alone devices; some of the devices are intended for use in conjunction with a cane or dog guide (Pun, Roth, Bologna, Moustakas, & Tzovaras, 2007). The K-Sonar is a device which uses sonocular perception to provide the user with increased information about his/her environment based on echolocation. This information includes object detection, distance from detected objects, and information about the makeup and texture of detected objects (Kay, n.d., Pun et al., 2007, Rotengen, Gelederblom, Soede, & de Witte, 2008). The documentation which accompanies the KSonar when it is purchased from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) specifically says that it is only for use by individuals with typical hearing. However, advancements in cochlear 33

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