Navigation for the Blind through Audio-Based Virtual Environments

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.

… Applications of Bio- …, 1999

Virtual Acoustic Space (VAS) is a research and development project on the perception of space using only sound. A portable electronic prototype that allows blind people to receive spatial information of their surroundings has been developed This information is perceived via an audible image using Head Related Transfer Function (HRTFs) processed sounds. The main goal is to create for the user the illusion that the surrounding objects are covered by small sound continuously emitting sources in a particular and sustained way. Therefore, a virtual acoustic world is generated, where a physical object emit sounds from all the coordinates of its surface. Our results validate the hypothesis that, it is possible to generate an experience of global and sustained presence of diferent objects inside the perception field from these stimuli, with the same shape, dimensions and location as the real environment. Our objectives are now focused on: a better delimitation of the observed capabilities, the study of the developed prototype in everyday life conditions, on exploring how blindpeople learn to use new strategies to improve their perception ofthe environment and the exploration of the possible cortical brain areas involved in this process, usingfunctional imaging techniques.

Sensors

Spatial cognition is a daily life ability, developed in order to be able to understand and interact with our environment. Even if all the senses are involved in mental representation of space elaboration, the lack of vision makes it more difficult, especially because of the importance of peripheral information in updating the relative positions of surrounding landmarks when one is moving. Spatial audio technology has long been used for studies of human perception, particularly in the area of auditory source localisation. The ability to reproduce individual sounds at desired positions, or complex spatial audio scenes, without the need to manipulate physical devices has provided researchers with many benefits. We present a review of several studies employing the power of spatial audio virtual reality for research in spatial cognition with blind individuals. These include studies investigating simple spatial configurations, architectural navigation, reaching to sounds, and sound design...

For the visually impaired people, navigating in unfamiliar environments represents a considerable challenge. In recent years, virtual reality based applications for the blind people have used the auditive channel as a way to convey perceptual and spatial information. This paper presents a sound localization experiment having the purpose of studying the orientation and mobility skills of 10 blindfolded subjects. Our research concluded that the use of the hearing sense as an alternate compensatory modality has a positive impact on the improvement of the localization skills and discrimination perceptual abilities in virtual reality based auditory environments.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022

To orient and move efficiently in the environment, we need to rely on multiple external and internal cues. Previous studies reported the combined use of spatialized auditory cues and self-motion information in spatial navigation and orientation. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of a setup composed of a motion platform and an acoustic virtual reality tool with sighted and visually impaired participants. We compared the performance in a self-motion discrimination task with and without auditory cues. The results revealed good usability of the setup and increased precision with auditory cues for visually impaired people. Clinical relevance-This preliminary research presents a novel combination of a motion simulator and a simple acoustic virtual reality tool to investigate multisensory perception during passive self-motion stimulation in healthy and clinical populations.

2002

Mental mapping of spaces, and of the possible paths for navigating through these spaces, is essential for the development of efficient orientation and mobility skills. The work reported here is based on the assumption that the supply of appropriate spatial information through compensatory channels (conceptual and perceptual), may contribute to the blind people's spatial performance. We developed a multi-sensory virtual environment simulating real-life spaces. This virtual environment comprises developer / teacher mode and learning mode.

Navigating in an unknown environment is a difficult task for the visually impaired people, as they are required to rely primarily on the haptic or auditory cues, in compensation for the lack of sight. However, their orientation and mobility skills are well developed, although the process of building a solid spatial cognitive map of the environment can be rather long and sinuous. The main inquiry that emerges from this matter is whether they are able to virtually learn the architecture of an environment by adapting to the specific auditory and haptic cues that define the setting and to transfer their knowledge into real-world, physical contexts. As the spatial audio technology is capable to render individual sounds at desired locations and to design complex auditory scenarios though binaural sound synthesis, the purpose of virtual auditory environments has extended from localization tests to investigating higher-level cognitive abilities. This paper aims to investigate and discuss the most relevant studies and experiments concerning the ability of visually impaired people to adapt to novel environments, to successfully navigate them virtually by using auditory or haptic cues and to construct a mental representation of the surrounding space. The motivation underlying our research is twofold: firstly, it is aimed to contribute to documenting the way in which the visually impaired people spatially perceive the environment and secondly, to provide insights for the development of a virtual reality navigational device based on auditory or haptic (vibrotactile and kinesthetic) events. Taking into account the findings of our research on the ability of blind individuals to carry out effective cognitive tasks and spatial mental representations, we will also discuss future perspectives for the development of an assistive VR system that would facilitate navigation, orientation and overall spatial awareness.

Procedia Computer Science, 2012

This study presents the development of a video game with audio and haptic interfaces that allows for the stimulation of orientation and mobility skills in people who are blind through the use of virtual environments. We evaluate the usability and the impact of the use of an audio and haptic-based videogame on the development of orientation and mobility skills in school-age blind learners. The results show that the interfaces used in the videogame are usable and appropriately designed, and that the haptic interface is as effective as the audio interface for orientation and mobility purposes.

Joint VR Conference of euroVR and EGVE, 2011

People living with impaired vision rely upon other sensory inputs in order to learn the configuration of a new space. This research project asks 2 questions: what types of acoustic cues are used to mentally represent a given environment without the visual channel? And is it possible to accurately model these cues computationally [in a Virtual Reality (VR) space] to provide an easy mechanism for someone with visual impairment to learn the configuration of a new environment in advance of being introduced to it? In this poster, three preliminary comparative studies are presented which focus on the ability of blind and sighted individuals to detect walls and obstacles within an environment, relying only on the auditory sense.

International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 2016

electrical engineering from the same university, with honors (class I). Her research specialization is in medical simulation, virtual manipulation, haptic and real-time visual rendering, and development of assistive technologies for special needs citizens. She completed her work training in electrical engineering in 2002 after working with BHP as a degree cadet, Port Kembla Steelworks employed 1997-2002. She is currently employed as an associate professor in electrical engineering at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. She is the director of the Simulation and Smart Systems (S 3) Research Centre, which she established in April 2014. She has published in more than 30 publications, most with a high impact factor (IEEE, JLO) and ranked high in her research specialization. Dr. Todd is a professional member of IEEE and Signal Processing Society, and invited external referee for journals including the Int. Journ. Comp. Ass. Radiol. and Surg. (IJCARS), Pattern Recognition Letters, and Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds (CAVW)). She has received several teaching and research-based awards.