Assistive Technologies for Blind and Visually Impaired Individuals – A Short Review

Globally, over 253 million people live with visual problems, with approximately 36 million being completely blind, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The growing widespread presence of visual disabilities indicates the urgent need for assistive technologies that allow visually impaired people to navigate their environments and perform daily tasks more independently. The advancements in vision-based assistive devices are examined. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI), embedded systems, and machine learning has revolutionized these devices, enabling real-time scene recognition, object detection, text-to-speech conversion, voice-based user interaction and much more. This paper analyzes literature to explore the functions, advantages and disadvantages. This paper also identifies current trends, limitations, and opportunities for future advancements in assistive technologies to improve the quality of life for visually impaired individuals.