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

Published: 10 September 2008 Publication History

Abstract

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 the 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.

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  • (2024)Exploring Human Interaction in Virtual Reality: An Experience Report on Users with and without Visual ImpairmentProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702047(1-11)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Towards Accessible Musical Performances in Virtual Reality: Designing a Conceptual Framework for Omnidirectional Audio DescriptionsProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675618(1-17)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
  • (2024)ChartA11y: Designing Accessible Touch Experiences of Visualizations with Blind Smartphone UsersProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675611(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
DIMEA '08: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts
September 2008
551 pages
ISBN:9781605582481
DOI:10.1145/1413634
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 10 September 2008

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Author Tags

  1. 3D
  2. MUVE
  3. Second Life
  4. accessibility
  5. haptics
  6. multi-user virtual environment
  7. multimodal feedback
  8. sonification
  9. visual impairment

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DIMEA '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 59 of 77 submissions, 77%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 59 of 77 submissions, 77%

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Exploring Human Interaction in Virtual Reality: An Experience Report on Users with and without Visual ImpairmentProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702047(1-11)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Towards Accessible Musical Performances in Virtual Reality: Designing a Conceptual Framework for Omnidirectional Audio DescriptionsProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675618(1-17)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
  • (2024)ChartA11y: Designing Accessible Touch Experiences of Visualizations with Blind Smartphone UsersProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675611(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Intelligent environments and assistive technologies for assisting visually impaired people: a systematic literature reviewUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-024-01117-yOnline publication date: 3-May-2024
  • (2023)Inklusive Medienbildung mit 3D-UmgebungenMedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung10.21240/mpaed/jb20/2023.09.24.X(649-667)Online publication date: 15-Sep-2023
  • (2023)Opportunities for Accessible Virtual Reality Design for Immersive Musical Performances for Blind and Low-Vision PeopleProceedings of the 2023 ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction10.1145/3607822.3614540(1-21)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2023
  • (2023)“The Guide Has Your Back”: Exploring How Sighted Guides Can Enhance Accessibility in Social Virtual Reality for Blind and Low Vision PeopleProceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3597638.3608386(1-14)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2023
  • (2023)Blind people can actively manipulate virtual objects with a novel tactile deviceScientific Reports10.1038/s41598-023-49507-113:1Online publication date: 21-Dec-2023
  • (2023)The Future of Higher Education in Ethical Metaverse: Co-existing in Virtually Enhanced Physical RealityThe Emergence of the Ethically-Engaged University10.1007/978-3-031-40312-5_8(137-157)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2023
  • (2023)Accessibility by Numbers: A Critical Review of Game Accessibility GuidelinesDisability and Video Games10.1007/978-3-031-34374-2_10(259-294)Online publication date: 19-Dec-2023
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