Toward accessible 3D virtual environments for the blind and visually impaired

Gareth R. White, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Graham McAllister
2008 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts - DIMEA '08  
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
more » ... he 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.
doi:10.1145/1413634.1413663 dblp:conf/dimea/WhiteFM08 fatcat:ey2leeb5ezhwnanvumqtmthyqu