Getting Across the Street with Visual and Hearing Impairments
Dona Sauerburger, COMS®

This information is in outline form and sketchy because it is meant to accompany presentations. Topics covered are:
• Street-crossing skills
• Assessing Risks and Making Decisions
• Do "Deaf-Blind Pedestrians" Street Signs Work?
• Use of Vibrotactile Device to Detect Vehicles
  
  NOTE: Before having the student practice traveling in public, cover important points that the instructor should explain to student.
  
  

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Street-Crossing Skills


TEACHING TO USE HEARING:

• If student wears hearing aids
  
  • digital hearing aids can equalize sounds so localization might be difficult/impossible
    -- work with the audiologist to get hearing aid programs to facilitate localizing and environmental / traffic sounds.
  • With analog hearing aids -- before each lesson / travel, student should adjust volume of hearing aid(s) until sources of sound which are directly in front of student sound like they are directly in front.
    
• To improve localization:
  • Encourage head and body movement
  • cup the ears to focus on source of sound (turning the head to see where it's loudest)
  • scan with body movement (walk in one direction and another to see where the source of sound gets louder or softer)
  • using a microphone (for assistive listening device or hearing aids) that has a "focus" mode, scan with the microphone to see which direction the sound is loudest (click here for more).
• Localization with bilateral cochlear implants
• Whenever teaching use of traffic sounds, first have the student experience the sound correctly, as in the examples below:
  
  To teach localizing sound of traffic surge / vehicles:
  
  Go to an intersection with a 4 way stop sign, listen to surge of individual vehicles in each of 4 positions as instructor explains where the vehicles are, then have student guess from where the vehicles are surging.
  
  To teach alignment with traffic sounds:
  
  • Find a place that has no directional clues (no sun, no slopes or cracks in the sidewalk, no continuous source of noise, etc.)
  • Face student straightand have him listen to traffic to learn what straight sounds like;
  • Face student slightly crookedand have him listen to traffic and notice the difference from what straight sounds like
    (if he can't hear the difference, face more crooked until the difference is heard, then face less crooked and try to hear the difference);
  • Once the student can hear the difference in the traffic sound between straight and crooked alignment, disorient him and then have him align himself by finding a position that sounds like it did when he was straight.
    
  If student cannot use traffic sounds or other cues to align
  
  memorize alignment at one landmark on the sidewalk, noting how the feet or cane feel at the curb when aligned.
  
  
TEACHING TO USE VISION
It is recommended that you read pages 6-13 in the section "Teaching students to determine when there is a crossable gap in traffic" in the Self-Study Guide: Preparing Visually Impaired Students for Uncontrolled Crossings as listed below:
• Page  6: USING VISION for "all clear:" Knowing what to look for, and seeing them efficiently/reliably
• Page  7: USING VISION for "all clear:" Looking left/right -- challenges and strategies with different eye conditions
• Page  8: USING VISION for "all clear:" Procedure to train students to look for vehicles while scanning / glancing to each side
• Page  9: USING VISION -- When you see traffic at a distance -- do you have time to cross?
• Page  10: USING VISION -- is traffic far/slow enough? "Determining Gaps in Approaching Traffic" (was "TMASD")
• Page  11: USING VISION -- How to determine how many seconds is "X" seconds?
• Page  12: USING VISION -- ALTERNATIVE when you cannot judge whether the traffic is far/slow enough to allow you time to cross
• Page  13: USING VISION -- Determine when the traffic is far/slow enough by SCANNING or GLANCING left/right
  
  
AT TRAFFIC SIGNALS

Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) are GREAT for making signal information accessible!

• MUTCD (Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices) specifies vibrotactile output at APS, and proposed regulations will require it.
• Discuss risks of turning cars with student: make sure student understands risks, and how to reduce risks. Click here to see photos of APS being used by a deaf-blind man.
Can't see / hear enough to scan the traffic?
Brainstorm ways of reducing risks for each source of vehicles (see Self-Study Guide: Self-Study Guide: Crossing at Modern Traffic Signals)


AT NO TRAFFIC CONTROL (need to detect gaps in approaching traffic):

Students must determine whether they can hear or see traffic well enough to know if there is a sufficient gap to cross (the Procedure to Develop the Judgment of the Detection of Traffic can teach them to recognize situations where they can not see/hear traffic well enough). In those situations, they
• determine the risks of crossing;
• reduce the risks as much as possible; and
• consider alternatives if risk is not acceptable.
  
  

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Assessing Risks and Making Decisions

Every crossing involves risk for every pedestrian, including those with normal hearing and vision. There are many situations where even people with normal vision and hearing are unable to hear or see the traffic well enough to know whether it is clear to cross (click here to see videos of two of these situations).

The role of the O&M specialist is to teach students how to analyze situations to determine those risks so the student can decide whether to cross in that situation. Some people accept more risk than others and would be willing to accept the risk of crossing in situations that others would consider too dangerous.

      Process for each crossing:

   Note: those who cannot hear/see well enough to independently analyze situation and determine risks may need hearing/sighted assistance).
1. Analyze situation (determine length of crosswalk / width of street, geometry and traffic control / traffic patterns);
2. Determine how / when to cross (choose strategy for crossing);
3. Determine risks of crossing

Teach students to analyze each intersection for:

a. risks (what could possibly go wrong?);
b. how the risk can be reduced;
c. how likely the risk is to occur (after reduced)

4. Reduce risks as much as possible (including changing or revising crossing strategy);
5. Decide if risks are acceptable:

After determining risk and then reducing it as much as possible (including changing the strategy for crossing), ask the student or guardian if this risk is acceptable to him or her.

• Before deciding if risk is acceptable, reduce risk as much as possible (including changing street-crossing strategy if appropriate);
• A thing is considered "safe"if its risks are determined to be acceptable
• Each person's acceptance of risk is individual, and may be different from yours.
• Make sure that student is prepared and familiar with alternatives for situations when the risk is not acceptable.
• Discuss pedestrian laws in applicable area
  
6. Consider alternatives if risk is not acceptable

Our responsibility to our students, in addition to teaching them the skills and strategies needed to travel, include making sure they understand:

• all the choices available to them;
• risks and consequences of the choices (including how to recognize situations where they can't hear / see traffic well enough to know there's a sufficient gap in traffic to cross).
  
  
Ideas / strategies for deaf-blind people to get assistance to cross

Ask other pedestrians:


• Stand near curb facing street to be crossed and indicate need for assistance (card; body language; voice, etc.)
• When someone approaches, point to the street you want to cross in order to avoid confusion
• when using a card, it should indicate (see Effective use of cards for soliciting assistance to cross streets):
  First: need help to cross street;
  Second: TAP deaf-blind person to offer help (not to indicate it's time to cross!);
  Third: deaf-blind / hard of hearing etc.
  
    To the right is a card showing a drawing of a person guiding can reduce language / literacy problems and draw attention
    (These cards are available from Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth: 516-944-8900)
Find others to help
• Go to where there are likely to be people (bus stops, corners, stores, etc.) and solicit assistance to cross
• Call businesses or residents near the crossing, and ask people to come guide you across (if mobile phone not available, call ahead and ask them to expect and watch for you).
Ask drivers:
At locations where drivers are likely to stop or drive slowly, hold sign up to ask them to guide you across

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Do "Deaf-Blind Pedestrians" Street Signs Work?


We experimented to find out if a traffic sign saying "DEAF-BLIND PEDESTRIANS" makes it more likely that drivers will yield -- see Do "Deaf-Blind Pedestrians" Street Signs Work?

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Use of Vibrotactile Device to Detect Vehicles


The TMAD was used to determine if the device Tactaid II,which changes sounds into vibrations, could be used to detect approaching vehicles for deaf-blind people -- see Testing the Effectiveness of a Vibrotactile Device for Crossing Streets by Deaf-Blind People.

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