# Audiom: Developing an Indoor Non-Visual Mapping System

> **NIH NIH R41** · XR NAVIGATION INC. · 2023 · $275,766

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Indoor navigation for blind and visually impaired individuals (BVIs) within unfamiliar locations is typically an
incredibly anxiety-provoking and stressful experience for numerous reasons, e.g., inaccessible signage
including directories and venue maps, and if braille signs do exist, they are difficult to find, lack directional
information, and are useless to the BVIs who do not read braille. For large areas, such as office buildings,
stadiums, stores, malls, hospitals, museums, and hotels, BVIs must laboriously obtain extremely detailed
directions beforehand or use human guides to navigate these independently. Indoor tactile maps are too
expensive, too difficult to obtain, inaccessible to non-braille readers, often too complicated to understand, and
only convey limited information. Digital maps requiring external devices, such as a vibration mouse, pin matrix,
or force-feedback device are expensive to produce and acquire, which make these solutions impractical when
discussing mass adoption or web accessibility. The result is an inordinate expenditure of time, money, and
mental effort around navigation that significantly decreases quality of life and independence for BVIs. The
majority of BVIs have repeatedly asked for maps to be part of wayfinding systems in wayfinding research, but
there has been little research on digital non-visual maps, and no research evaluating how maps coupled with
turn-by-turn navigation systems (TBTNS) can enhance the wayfinding ability of BVIs.
To solve these problems, a digital cross-sensory map viewer called Audiom-Indoor will be developed to show
indoor data that can be used with a TBTNS to enhance wayfinding for BVIs. Audiom-Indoor, unlike expensive
tactile maps that are rarely available and on hand when needed, will be available on any device with a web
browser, and be accessible to the many BVIs who are non-braille readers. Users will be able to explore data
through an interactive auditory and text virtual reality interface that only require headphones, in contrast to
other map viewers that generally only have one modality on one platform.
Aim 1 will co-design (participatory design) and develop a proof of concept of a digital auditory indoor map
viewer with BVIs outlined above. Goodmaps, the TBTNS partner, will make any needed modifications to their
existing data set of the study location, the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Offices.
Aim 2 will evaluate the Goodmaps TBTNS alone, and with Audiom at APH. In each condition, BVI participants
will travel a route aided by the tool, then again unaided by the tool.
The proposed aims will establish both a new approach for digital non-visual map viewers, and measure the
effect maps have when used with a TBTNS. If digital maps do positively enhance wayfinding with a TBTNS, it
will facilitate greater independent travel, leading to a higher quality of life for BVIs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10695772
- **Project number:** 1R41EY034411-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** XR NAVIGATION INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Brandon Biggs
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $275,766
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10695772

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10695772, Audiom: Developing an Indoor Non-Visual Mapping System (1R41EY034411-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-31 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10695772. Licensed CC0.

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