Research on flashlights intended to aid the visually impaired when walking at night

The objective of this research was to determine the spotlight brightness and width specifications needed in a flashlight used by visually impaired persons. Firstly, a flashlight was built with adjustable spotlight brightness and width, having a light emitting diode (LED) light source. Secondly, the effect of brightness and width on the ease with which visually impaired subjects were able to locate target objects was then investigated by conducting an object-search experiment in which subjects used the flashlight to search for objects under conditions equivalent to night-time walking.