Exploration in 3D multimodal virtual environment for nonvisual spatial recognition

Abstract

Visually impaired people have more problems on navigation both indoors and outdoors compairing with sighted people because of lacking the visual channel. Appropriate learning tools about spatial information could be used as a preparation for navigation before going to the real place. In this paper, a study on exploring access in non-visual spatial information by visually impaired people and the navigation and orientation with haptic and audio cues is presented. A 3D virtual simulation prototype of a real world environment was created for this purpose. Different navigation tools were designed in the prototype with haptic and audio cues. The main results from qualitative analysis of the study reported are: (a) the development of a virtual 3D environment prototype; (b) whether the spatial information for establishing the mental mapping of the space could be acquired by using touch and hearing channels; (c) how haptic and audio cues can facilitate the navigation, mobility and orientation in such 3D virtual environments.