13 Zentrale Universitätseinrichtungen

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Author: search.filters.author.Baric̆ová, KatarinaSubject: search.filters.subject.004

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    User-centric approach of visual cues to enhance VR orientation for people with visual impairments
    (2024) Baric̆ová, Katarina
    For successful navigation through the world, a good orientation is needed. Our orientation is directly influenced by how well we can build and use a cognitive map of the environment around us. Cognitive maps are mental representations of spatial information of an environment. A lack of visual information can impede the successful acquisition of a cognitive map. As such, people with impaired vision can struggle with tasks requiring spatial orientation. With a goal to facilitate orientation, we created a set of visual cues designed to compensate for the lack of information needed for cognitive mapping. To meet the needs of different visual impairment, we followed a user-centric approach for the visual cue design. For this, we first conducted a formative interview with visually impaired people, investigating what information should be highlighted and how. With these insights, we created six different visual cue categories providing information about Obstacles, Points of Interest (POI), Entrances, and Shape Information. The visual cues in each category come in different forms, tailored to different needs. In a subsequent user study, we let participants with impaired vision explore a city scene in Virtual Reality using our visual cues. To evaluate the cues’ efficacy for orientation, our study investigated the participants’ cognitive mapping process. Our study results indicate that four out of five participants were able to successfully build and use a cognitive map of the virtual city. Given a remaining vision of 10%-15% combined with a Field of View of less than 5°, the visual cues could not provide sufficient aid. Nonetheless, all visual cue categories were reported as helpful, with the Shape Information cues being deemed as most important for exploration.