When I hear about virtual reality, I think of headsets that provide an immersive visual experience, For me and many others with sight loss, VR has always appeared to be technology we can't enjoy. Microsoft have been researching how to make virtual reality accessible to the blind. They have created a virtual cane that simulates the real-world feedback cane users recieve. While this is a long way off being commercially available, it provides a glimpse into how I and other visually impaired people will be able to enjoy virtual reality in the future.
I can see this technology being useful for training users on how to use a cane or practice a route ahead of eeding to travel. I also see this technology being expanded to provide more complete feedback to gamers, allowing them to have a more immersive experience. A fine example of how trachnology developed to meet the needs of disabled people, providing broad benefit to all.
Putting all these components together, our controller allowed users who are blind to effectively explore a complicated virtual world of 6 meters by 6 meters to play a scavenger hunt game, locating targets and avoiding obstacles and traps. In user testing, we found that seven out of eight users were able to play the game, successfully navigating to locate targets while avoiding collisions with walls and obstacles
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