| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣科技大學 === 建築系 === 105 === A curiosity on how visually impaired students navigate through circulation paths in school initiated the start of this research, and whether acoustic characteristics of these pathways affect visually impaired students on wayfinding is another focus of this study. Acoustic models of circulation paths have been created and studied, and short reverberation time with excellent speech intelligibility, as expected, showed on each receiver location. Very short center time suggested that these models are in the open fields, while strong flutterechoes have been identified via Odeon’s 3D Paths diagram. Nineteen visually impaired students as the Taipei School for the Visually Impaired (TSVI) group and ten first-time pretended blind students as the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) group completed circulation paths questionnaires. Up to 70% of students from both groups can easily differentiate the acoustic characteristics and heard different sound sources while passing through the pathways. Up to 67% of them indicated that they have had accident experience in pathways. Echoes due to the paralleled surfaces and speech from nearby sources were identified, with echoes as the biggest challenge for them to cross the pathways safely. Wider pathways, continuous railing system at a proper railing height, detectable materials on walls and floor, higher illuminance in enclosed pathways as well as control glare due to daylight in an enclosed staircase were recommended as some future design decision to implement. A safer learning environment for visually impaired students can be created.
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