Accessible virtual environments for people who are blind - creating an intelligent virtual cane using the Nintendo Wii controller

People who are blind tend to adopt sequential, route-based strategies for moving around the world (Golledge et al, 1996). Common strategies take the self as the main frame of reference, but those who perform better in navigational tasks use more spatial, map-based strategies (Hill et al, 1993). Training in such strategies can improve performance (Cummins and Rieser, 2008; Simonnet et al, 2006). Virtual Environments have great potential, both for allowing people who are blind to explore new spaces, reducing their reliance on guides, and aiding development of more efficient spatial maps and strategies. Importantly, Lahav and Mioduser (2005, 2008) have demonstrated that, when exploring virtual spaces, people who are blind use more and different strategies than when exploring real physical spaces, and develop relatively accurate spatial representations of them. The present paper describes the design, development and evaluation of a system in which a virtual environment may be explored by people who are blind using Nintendo Wii devices, with auditory and haptic feedback. Using this technology has many advantages, not least of which are that it is mainstream, readily available and cheap. The utility of the system for exploration and navigation is demonstrated. Results strongly suggest that it allows and supports the development of spatial maps and strategies. Intelligent support is discussed.