In an effort to put the visually impaired up close and personal with virtual reality – something they have been aloof off, Researchers from the University of Chile with counterparts from Harvard Medical School are taming three audio-based PC games to allow blind people navigate a labyrinth, a subway system and real-world buildings based on audio signals.
The players are made to uses a keyboard to move and interact sequentially within the virtual 3-D environment. The game built for teach blind children, works by interpreting information generated by spectral sounds like footsteps and door knocks – this in the virtual essence of real building, so that the user learns to build a spatial cognitive map of that surrounding, a navigate it easily when in the actually building in the real world scenario.
There are many games that have been built for these special children, but here the designed gaming software wishes to result into a rehabilitation tool to allow blind users to survey unfamiliar buildings before actually navigating through them in real life. I think this has potential and it could prove a boon.
