Wheelchair Users Navigational Behavior: Insights from Eye Movement Data and Environment Legibility

This study aims to investigate how eye movement data and the legibility of the environment can help us to better understand the navigational behavior of wheelchair users (WCUs) in urban environments. For this purpose and through a field-based exploratory experiment, the legibility of a route was computed and compared with the visual behavior of two participants with different levels of wheelchair-using experience. The preliminary outcomes show the less experienced WCU has looked more intensively for information in the environment, while the more experienced one engaged in a deep cognitive process to maintain his safety. In addition, we have observed a correlation between the level of the legibility of the environment and the fixation duration and the frequency of saccades between fixations, likely leading to intensive cognitive processes in some situations. Based on these results and upcoming complementary experiments, we intend to better adapt the assistive navigation technologies for the mobility needs of WCU.