Echolocation as a Means for People with Visual Impairment to Acquire Spatial Knowledge of Virtual Space

Abstract

The creation of virtual worlds started with the very first computers in the sixties and has been deeply intertwined with the development of digital games. As computer hardware becomes more powerful, these virtual worlds and the digital games that are developed within them become ever more realistic. Information in virtual worlds is usually conveyed visually. For this reason, the digital games that occur within virtual worlds are commonly referred to as videogames. However, this reliance on the visual sense means that these worlds are mostly inaccessible for people with visual impairments. Although the challenges of making virtual worlds accessible to people with visual impairments are numer..