Title | ||
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Enabling People with Visual Impairments to Navigate Virtual Reality with a Haptic and Auditory Cane Simulation |
Abstract | ||
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ABSTRACTTraditional 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. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
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2018 | 10.1145/3173574.3173690 | Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
Virtual reality, white cane, blindness, visual impairments, haptic feedback, auditory feedback, mobility | Virtual image,Control theory,Virtual reality,Virtual machine,Auditory feedback,Computer science,Wearable computer,Human–computer interaction,Multimedia,Blindness,Haptic technology | Conference |
Citations | PageRank | References |
4 | 0.58 | 24 |
Authors | ||
7 |
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
---|---|---|---|
Yuhang Zhao | 1 | 158 | 26.09 |
Cynthia L. Bennett | 2 | 234 | 24.83 |
Hrvoje Benko | 3 | 2576 | 130.33 |
Ed Cutrell | 4 | 2731 | 205.59 |
Christian Holz | 5 | 878 | 56.58 |
Meredith Ringel Morris | 6 | 5465 | 362.85 |
Mike Sinclair | 7 | 764 | 76.87 |