Using Wii technology to explore real spaces via virtual environments for people who are blind
Abstract
Purpose
Virtual environments (VEs) that represent real spaces (RSs) give people who are blind the opportunity to build a cognitive map in advance that they will be able to use when arriving at the RS. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research study Nintendo Wii-based technology was used for exploring VEs via the Wiici application. The Wiimote allows the user to interact with VEs by simulating walking and scanning the space.
Findings
By getting haptic and auditory feedback the user learned to explore new spaces. The authors examined the participants’ abilities to explore new simple and complex places, construct a cognitive map, and perform orientation tasks in the RS.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this finding presents the first VE for people who are blind that allow the participants to scan the environment and by this to construct map model spatial representations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was partially supported by a grant from The European Commission, Marie Curie International Reintegration Grants (Grant No. FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG). The authors thank the anonymous participants for their time, efforts, and ideas.
Citation
Lahav, O., Gedalevitz, H., Battersby, S., Brown, D., Evett, L. and Merritt, P. (2014), "Using Wii technology to explore real spaces via virtual environments for people who are blind", Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 150-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAT-02-2014-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited