The reason tactile tiles are so effective begins with a state-of-the-art composite material design that improves the truncated tiles wayfinding ability.

Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two or more component materials with considerably different physical or chemical properties.

The materials have been around for nearly three decades, but what makes the system innovative is the application of the truncated tiles wayfinding design: an sound amplification model utilizing sound plates.

The tactile tiles are made up of truncated domes arranged in a square pattern as part of a single-mould design process (all one piece). The tiles sit atop sound plates, creating a void through which air and subsequently sound waves can travel. The result is a very distinct, audible warning that alerts the visually impaired user when struck, tapped or swept over with a long cane. This is the truncated tiles wayfinding process, which has been tested, researched, studied and determined to be 100% effective (when installed to the minimum width) at preventing visually-impaired individuals from unwillingly entering traffic, or falling off railway platforms.

If the truncated tiles wayfinding system is still confusing, or sounds unrealistic (why does a cane make a sound when walking on it doesn't?), you simply need to understand the mechanics of sound travel:

Much like the sound of two hands clapping together (which is not the sound of the hands hitting, rather air escaping the void between the hands) when the small air pockets are sharply and quickly vibrated especially in a continuous system a much clearer sound can be heard than that which would be produced by a slow compression of the air caused by simply stepping on the tiles.

The advanced truncated tiles wayfinding system is only one of the components that make detectable warning surfaces so effective, and together they produce a product that creates safer, more inclusive communities around the world.

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