HOMERE: a Multimodal System for Visually Impaired People to Explore Virtual Environments (original) (raw)
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Virtual environments for the training of visually impaired
2002
In recent years researchers have started developing force feedback interfaces, which permit blind people not only to access bi-dimensional graphic interfaces (as was the case until now), but in addition to access information present on 3D Virtual Reality interfaces anticipating that the latter will be the natural form of information interchange in the very near future [1].
Applications of Virtual Reality for Visually Impaired People
World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), 2010
This paper describes in detail the development and applications of a Virtual Reality Simulator for Visually Impaired People. It makes an auditory representation of the virtual environment, rendering the virtual world entirely through the hearing. The simulator has these main purposes: validation of auditory representation techniques, 3d sensor emulation for environment recognition and hardware integration, training of visually impaired users with these new auditory representation, and acoustic perception experiments aimed to improve the auditory rendering. The interaction with the simulator is made by a 3d tracking system to locate user's head orientation and position. This means the user interaction is as natural as possible, all performed by just "walking through" the environment, and at the same time, the user perceives the environment through acoustic information.
NAV-VIR: an audio-tactile virtual environment to assist visually impaired people*
2019 9th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), 2019
This paper introduces the NAV-VIR system, a multimodal virtual environment to assist visually impaired people in virtually discovering and exploring unknown areas from the safety of their home. The originality of NAV-VIR resides in (1) an optimized representation of the surrounding topography, the spatial gist, based on human spatial cognition models and the sensorimotor supplementation framework, and (2) a multimodal orientation-aware immersive virtual environment relying on two synergetic interfaces: an interactive force feedback tablet, the F2T, and an immersive HRTF-based 3D audio simulation relying on binaural recordings of real environments. This paper presents NAV-VIR functionalities and its preliminary evaluation through a simple shape and movement perception task. I.
Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018
Traditional virtual reality (VR) mainly focuses on visual feedback, which is not accessible for people with visual impairments. We created Canetroller, a haptic cane controller that simulates white cane interactions, enabling people with visual impairments to navigate a virtual environment by transferring their cane skills into the virtual world. Canetroller provides three types of feedback: (1) physical resistance generated by a wearable programmable brake mechanism that physically impedes the controller when the virtual cane comes in contact with a virtual object; (2) vibrotactile feedback that simulates the vibrations when a cane hits an object or touches and drags across various surfaces; and (3) spatial 3D auditory feedback simulating the sound of real-world cane interactions. We designed indoor and outdoor VR scenes to evaluate the effectiveness of our controller. Our study showed that Canetroller was a promising tool that enabled visually impaired participants to navigate different virtual spaces. We discuss potential applications supported by Canetroller ranging from entertainment to mobility training.
3D Virtual Environments for the Rehabilitation of the Blind
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2009
The accretion of orientation and mobility skills in blind people is fundamental for the development of an independent life. To these ends, activities oriented towards reinforcing this line of knowledge require direct interactions with spaces in real places, and the assistance of an educator or a companion as well. The objective of this study was to design, implement and evaluate 3D virtual environments in order to evaluate orientation and mobility learning in an unfamiliar environment based on the use of such environments. The procedure was provided by a learning stage in which the user learned to move about in the virtual environments, followed by an interaction stage in which he/she traveled virtually through the environments, to then travel the virtual environments that had been navigated virtually in the real world. To simulate the virtual surroundings, Unreal Engine was used, which is a gaming engine that allows for the construction of scenarios through a graphic editor. The results obtained show that the users were able to run the established route without any difficulties, for which reason it can be established that it is possible to produce mental models of real places through virtual interactions guided only by auditory cues.
Virtual Reality Technology for Blind and Visual Impaired People: Reviews and Recent Advances
Advances in Robotics …, 2012
Virtual reality technology enables people to become immersed in a computer-simulated and three-dimensional environment. In this chapter, we investigate the effects of the virtual reality technology on disabled people such as blind and visually impaired people (VIP) in order to enhance their computer skills and prepare them to make use of recent technology in their daily life. As well as, they need to advance their information technology skills beyond the basic computer training and skills. This chapter describes what best tools and practices in information technology to support disabled people such as deaf-blind and visual impaired people in their activities such as mobility systems, computer games, accessibility of e-learning, web-based information system, and wearable finger-braille interface for navigation of deaf-blind. Moreover, we will show how physical disabled people can benefits from the innovative virtual reality techniques and discuss some representative examples to illus...
Toward accessible 3D virtual environments for the blind and visually impaired
Proceedings of the 3rd …, 2008
3D virtual environments are increasingly used for education, business and recreation but are often inaccessible to users who are visually impaired, effectively creating a digital divide. Interviews with 8 visually impaired expert users were conducted to guide design proposals, and a review of current research into haptics and 3D sound for auditory displays is presented with suggestions for navigation and feedback techniques to address these accessibility issues. The diversity and volatility of the environment makes Second Life an unusually complex research object, suggesting the applicability of our work for the field of HCI and accessibility in 3D virtual environments.
PLoS ONE, 2013
Virtual worlds and environments are becoming an increasingly central part of our lives, yet they are still far from accessible to the blind. This is especially unfortunate as such environments hold great potential for them for uses such as social interaction, online education and especially for use with familiarizing the visually impaired user with a real environment virtually from the comfort and safety of his own home before visiting it in the real world. We have implemented a simple algorithm to improve this situation using single-point depth information, enabling the blind to use a virtual cane, modeled on the "EyeCane" electronic travel aid, within any virtual environment with minimal preprocessing. Use of the Virtual-EyeCane, enables this experience to potentially be later used in real world environments with identical stimuli to those from the virtual environment. We show the fast-learned practical use of this algorithm for navigation in simple environments.