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    Case study · Radboudumc, Nijmegen

    A teaching hospital you can hear in 42 languages.

    At the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, NaviLens tags every decision point: the tactile-paved entrance, the outpatient corridors, the heren / dames toilets and every spot where signage is out of reach for low vision.

    Corridor at Radboudumc with a two-tone blue-and-orange floor: a zig-zag of white tape crosses the blue strip, with round "Houd voldoende afstand" (keep distance) stickers. In the foreground, on the floor, a white-framed NaviLens code; in the background, a person in a yellow coat walks into a room

    1,350

    Beds at Radboudumc, a leading teaching hospital

    12,000+

    Staff on the Heyendaal medical campus (Nijmegen)

    39

    Languages in which NaviLens reads information aloud

    12×

    Greater detection distance than a standard QR

    The client

    Radboud University
    Medical Center — Nijmegen

    Radboudumc is one of the eight university medical centres in the Netherlands. Its campus in the south of Nijmegen combines teaching, research and patient care, with more than 12,000 staff and around 1,350 beds.

    Universal accessibility is part of the centre's DNA: ramps, lifts, outdoor tactile paving, painted routes on the floor and, above all, an explicit commitment that any patient —including one who can't see, can't hear or doesn't speak Dutch— can reach their appointment on their own.

    § The challenge

    Letting patients find their way alone. Even if they can't read the signs.

    1. 01

      A maze-campus, not a single building

      Radboudumc isn't one block: it's routes, floors and sub-levels (-1.77, -1.79…) with numbered consulting rooms. For a blind or low-vision person, reading a sign at 1.5 m is impossible — and the appointment can't wait.

    2. 02

      Signage only in Dutch

      Heren / Dames, Houd voldoende afstand, room numbers… The hospital's signage is designed for fluent Dutch readers. International patients, refugees and people with low vision are left out.

    3. 03

      Social distancing and painted floor routes

      During COVID, Radboudumc painted separate routes on the floor (blue / orange) and 1.5 m distance markers. That helps sighted users — but for everyone else it adds yet another layer that needs to be spoken aloud.

    Outpatient corridor at Radboudumc with grey-blue floor and orange stripes; yellow columns, blue doors numbered 5 and 6 and, in the background, an electric wheelchair. In the foreground, on the floor, a white-framed NaviLens code next to a distance tape marker

    § The solution

    A code at every decision point, read from several metres away.

    At Radboudumc, NaviLens codes live where patients make decisions: on the corridor floors —where routes cross and lead to numbered rooms—, on toilet and consulting-room doors, and on the outdoor tactile paving, right where the white cane begins to read the hospital entrance.

    Just open the NaviLens app and move the phone: the code is detected from several metres away, with no need to aim, and the information is spoken in the patient's language — Dutch, English, Arabic, Ukrainian… 39 in total.

    § Inside the hospital

    Corridors, toilets and consulting rooms read aloud.

    Radboudumc corridor during the pandemic: separate route with white tape and round "Houd voldoende afstand" stickers; on the floor, in the foreground, a NaviLens code. In the background, a counter and a room with a person in a yellow coat
    Two grey toilet doors at Radboudumc with blue frames. On the centre column, two small white signs "-1.77 Heren" and "-1.79 Dames" with their pictograms; below, a white-framed NaviLens code that announces in 42 languages which door leads to which toilet
    Radboudumc corridor with grey-blue floor, orange stripes and consulting rooms with blue doors numbered 5 and 6. At the corridor crossing, a white-framed NaviLens code on the floor; in the background, an electric wheelchair and a clinician entering a consulting room

    § Outdoor access

    Where the cane runs out, the code speaks.

    Pavement leading to Radboudumc with tactile paving slabs of dots (warning) and stripes (directional guidance). Next to the dotted slab, a square NaviLens code flush with the paving, announcing the crossing and the hospital entrance
    Close-up of the same Nijmegen pavement: tactile paving with dots and stripes, and a NaviLens code embedded in a white concrete slab. In the background, a person in black boots walks towards it

    § Timeline

    From COVID routes to an audible hospital.

    1. 2019

      Radboudumc commits to universal accessibility

      The Nijmegen academic centre puts accessibility and person-centred design at the core of its care strategy, in line with its mission of "zorg dichtbij" (care close to everyone).

    2. 2020

      Circulation redesign because of COVID-19

      The hospital paints separate routes on the floor and 1.5 m distance markers ("Houd voldoende afstand"). A need emerges to convey that information in a non-visual way too.

    3. Feb 2021

      NaviLens rollout at Radboudumc

      NaviLens codes are installed at outdoor accesses, lobbies, outpatient corridors, toilet and lift doors. The codes are read from several metres away with the phone's camera and speak the information in 39 languages, with no need to aim.

    4. Today

      Voice-based bilingual wayfinding, with no installation

      Patients and visitors with visual impairments move through the hospital while listening: "Outpatient corridor, rooms 5 and 6, 4 metres ahead", "Toilets: heren on the left, dames on the right", "Exit to the outside, pedestrian crossing with tactile paving".

    § What they said

    What the centre and European documentation say.

    • “Radboudumc is een academisch ziekenhuis dat zich met onderwijs, onderzoek en patiëntenzorg inzet voor een gezonde, persoonsgerichte en duurzame zorg.”
    • “We willen dat iedereen — ook mensen met een visuele beperking — zelfstandig zijn weg kan vinden in het ziekenhuis.”
    • “NaviLens codes can be detected up to 12 times farther than a standard QR and don't need to be aimed at — ideal for blind users in complex indoor environments.”

    § Results

    A teaching hospital you can walk through by listening to it.

    Street → Room

    Codes at every hop: tactile pavement, entrance, corridor, door

    Bilingual

    NL + EN + 37 more languages, spoken by the NaviLens app

    Contactless

    Read from several metres with the phone's camera — consistent with COVID protocols

    § And your centre?

    Every classroom and clinic can be guided by voice.

    Tell us about your centre, your journeys and your users. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make wayfinding easier.

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