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AudioMUD: A Multiuser Virtual Environment for Blind People
Abstract
A number of virtual environments have been developed during the last years. Among them there are some applications for blind people based on different type of audio, from simple sounds to 3-D audio. In this study, we pursued a different approach. We designed AudioMUD by using spoken text to describe the environment, navigation, and interaction. We have also introduced some collaborative features into the interaction between blind users. The core of a multiuser MUD game is a networked textual virtual environment. We developed AudioMUD by adding some collaborative features to the basic idea of a MUD and placed a simulated virtual environment inside the human body. This paper presents the design and usability evaluation of AudioMUD. Blind learners were motivated when interacted with AudioMUD and helped to improve the interaction through audio and interface design elements.
... This condition leads the concerned person to be handicapped and need guidance or assistance for every action. Many researchers have proposed devices for improving blind person's life quality [1]- [2]. Human vision abilities are extraordinary to realized images with the imbibed images in the brain, but these are also having some limitations like being tired, slow, and not so accurate because of some disease [3]. ...
... Many solutions were evolved for enhancing comfort in movements of a blind person. Jaime Sánchez and Tiago Hassler designed Audio Multi User Dungeon (MUD) by using spoken text to describe the environment, navigation and interaction [1]. They had also introduced some collaborative features into the interaction among blind users. ...
Navigation systems have been used for quite a long to support human perception of surrounding environment beyond reach of eyes. The same concept has also been applied to aid the people who are limited with the vision. Many electronics gadgets are developed to improve the vision perception of blind people. The electronic devices available for the aid of blinds are often complex, needs training sessions and come at much higher cost. This research aims at finding a reliable and easy to implement solution for visually challenged persons at a very small cost. This paper is an effort to report a comprehensive method to design, characterize and test electronics system based on image matching, radar and ultrasound sensor principles for the aid of blind persons. The simulation results showed good accuracy for identifying objects. Simulations were carried out in MATLAB and images of test objects were acquired by using NI-LabVIEW platform. The main objectives were to acquire an image of obstacle, identify it, measure a distance from current location and finally convert text into synthesized voice. Finding is expected to be supportive to the vision affected people.
... O uso do protocolo de testagem no estudo (Quadros 2, 3 e 4) foi fundamental para propor melhorias no jogo e, com isso, é possível replicar a defesa de estudos anteriores (Prates & Barbosa, 2003;Preece et al., 2008;Sánchez & Hassler, 2007) sobre a sua importância no desenvolvimento de jogos futuros. O protocolo proposto para a avaliação da usabilidade e acessibilidade pode ser reutilizado em outros projetos. ...
RESUMO: Um jogo educacional digital deve ser projetado para que qualquer pessoa possa usá-lo como objeto educacional, sobretudo pessoas com deficiência visual. Entretanto, muitas vezes, não são incluídos e avaliados aspectos de acessibilidade. Objetiva-se, com este artigo, relatar o planejamento e o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de jogo educacional digital para o ensino interdisciplinar de Ciências, Matemática e Educação Científica, bem como a execução da avaliação da acessibilidade com três pessoas com deficiência visual, para garantir um design colaborativo desde os passos iniciais de elaboração do jogo. O protótipo foi desenvolvido de acordo com as etapas de um método de produção de jogos; a execução da avaliação da acessibilidade e da usabilidade foi conduzida por meio de um protocolo adaptado, baseado no Think-Aloud Protocol, com três jogadores com deficiência visual. Os resultados identificaram desafios com os recursos de áudios e as propostas de soluções e, também, com a importância de padronizar as descrições das telas, a proposição de botões para garantir a jogabilidade, e a necessidade de fornecimento de feedback dado pelo jogo após o cumprimento da tarefa. Conclui-se que o design deve ser proposto em parceria colaborativa com diferentes públicos para garantir o desenho universal no desenvolvimento de jogos educacionais inclusivos.
... Sánchez and Hassler [31] build a virtual environment that contains a navigation aid for the blind and does not rely on 3D audio to function. Instead, these authors propose a system called AudioMUD, which uses spoken text as the only way to describe both virtual environments and player interactions. ...
Over the last years, works related to accessible technologies have increased both in number and in quality. This work presents a series of articles which explore different trends in the field of accessible video games for the blind or visually impaired. Reviewed articles are distributed in four categories covering the following subjects: (1) video game design and architecture, (2) video game adaptations, (3) accessible games as learning tools or treatments and (4) navigation and interaction in virtual environments. Current trends in accessible game design are also analysed, and data is presented regarding keyword use and thematic evolution over time. As a conclusion, a relative stagnation in the field of human-computer interaction for the blind is detected. However, as the video game industry is becoming increasingly interested in accessibility, new research opportunities are starting to appear.
... Após isso, na fase de produção, foi desenvolvido um protótipo de uma missão do jogo que pudesse ser avaliado com PCDs por meio de um teste. Sendo assim, na fase de testes, para o planejamento e execução da avaliação subjetiva de aspectos de acessibilidade do jogo, foi criado um protocolo de usabilidade, adaptados a partir da combinação dos protocolos de Sánchez e Hassler [6] e da técnica de Verbalização de Procedimentos (Think-Aloud Protocol) [4], que consiste, basicamente, da observação dos usuários realizando tarefas específicas. Para a avaliação, de acordo com o protocolo utilizado, foi aplicado um questionário aos usuários e, também, foi feito uma roda de conversa para discutir melhorias ao jogo. ...
Resumo: Requisitos de acessibilidade precisam ser considerados durante a concepção e desenvolvimento de jogos, em especial aqueles com propósito educacional, para incluir grande diversidade de jogadores. Este trabalho apresenta o planejamento da arquitetura e desenvolvimento de um jogo educacional acessível a pessoas com deficiência visual e surdos. Para isso, foi realizado um levantamento de requisitos gerais e de acessibilidade para jogos educacionais digitais visando o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de uma das missões do jogo para ser avaliado pelo público-alvo do jogo. Após os testes, os usuários relataram aspectos de jogabilidade e requisitos de acessibilidade que puderam ser aprimorados em uma nova versão do protótipo. Como resultado, são relatadas escolhas técnicas e experiência relacionadas com o desenvolvimento envolvendo a participação de pessoas com diferentes tipos de deficiência e especialistas em educação acessível, para a construção de um jogo com interface que pode ser usada por usuários sem deficiência ou com variados tipos de necessidades especiais. 1. Introdução Jogos digitais podem ser usados para propósitos educacionais além de entretenimento, porém pessoas com deficiência (PCDs) sentem-se excluídas ao não conseguirem jogar, o que ocorre quando a interface nãoé planejada considerando aspectos de acessibilidade [1]. Com a finalidade de reduzir esse problema, o design universal tem sido explorado, para orientar o desenvolvimento de ambientes e produtos que possam ser utilizados por todas as pessoas, sem a necessidade de adaptações [2]. Para o caso de produtos como programas de computador e, em particular, jogos digitais, o design universal representa um grande desafio, pois caraterísticas de interface que atendem bem pessoas sem deficiência nem sempre são adequadas para PCDs e vice-versa. Aspectos como a usabilidade precisam receber especial atenção durante o design, istoé, a usabilidade do jogo precisa ser compreensível (controles intuitivos), consistente (não há conflitos de lógica) e eficiente (o usuário consegue compreender a interface sem perder muito tempo) [3], considerando-se os vários tipos de jogadores. Nesse contexto, este trabalho apresenta o planejamento da arquitetura de software, em relação aos requisitos de acessibilidade e ferramentas usadas, e o processo de desenvolvimento de um jogo educacional para o ensino interdis-ciplinar de ciências, matemática e educação científica, para ser inclusivo e acessível a surdos e PCDs visual. O jogo em questão, intitulado "Expedição Antártica",é do tipo RPG top-down ambientado na Antártica e aborda conceitos de ciência cidadã. O restante deste texto está organizado como segue: na Seção 2 são apresentados os passos do método adotado; na Seção 3 são relacionados os requisitos identificados para acessibilidade, a arquitetura proposta e a seleção de ferramentas para o desenvolvimento do jogo; na Seção 4 são discutidos os resultados alcançados e, por fim, algumas considerações finais, na Seção 5. 2. Procedimentos Metodológicos O planejamento e desenvolvimento do jogo Expedição Antártica abrange uma equipe multidisciplinar, para se alcançar um melhor resultado. Assim, tem-se as seguintes equipes: (1) conteúdo e game design: responsável por produzir o conteúdo e criar as mecânicas e regras do jogo; (2) análise e gestão: responsável pela análise do contexto e dos requisitos do jogo, bem como a gestão do projeto; (3) acessibilidade: composto por PCDs visual e surdos e especialistas III Workshop @NUVEM
... AudioMUD [4] is a multiuser virtual environment exclusively made for the blind people and is associated with spoken cues. The original MUDs (Multi User Dimension) are generally text based and do not contain any sort of graphical interfaces. ...
Focusing and addressing the problems faced by the differently abled people such as visually, audibly and vocally challenged, through a single device is a tough job. A lot of research has been done on each problem and solutions have been proposed separately. But not all of them are addressed together. The aim of the project is to create a single device solution in such a way that is simple, fast, accurate and cost-effective. The main purpose of the device is to make the differently abled people, feel independent confident by seeing, hearing and talking for them. The paper provides a Google API and Raspberry Pi based aid for the blind deaf and dumb people. The proposed device enables visually challenged people to read by taking an image. Further, Image to text conversion and speech synthesis is done, converting it into an audio format that reads out the extracted text translating documents, books and other available materials in daily life. For the audibly challenged, the input is in form of speech taken in by the microphone and recorded audio is then converted into text which is displayed in the form of a pop-up window for the user in the screen of the device. The vocally impaired are aided by taking the input by the user as text through the built-in customized on-screen keyboard where the text is identified, text into speech conversion is done and the speaker gives the speech output. This way the device speaks for the user.
... A number of virtual environments have been developed for blind people based on different type of audio, from simple sounds to 3-D audio. We can highlight, for instance, AudioMUD (Sanchez & Hassler, 2007) using spoken text to describe the environment, navigation, and interaction. It also includes some collaborative features into the interaction between blind users and includes a simulated virtual environment inside the human body. ...
The main objective of this research is to provide a procedure set, oriented by a clear and rigorous protocol that allows the replication of results regarding the accessibility claims of products and systems available for the blind community, thus validating their robustness. The goal during the experiment was to compare user preferences and effectiveness when performing tasks with the voice synthesizers JAWS and DOSVOX and a braille keyboard. The adopted evaluation protocol includes the following methods: usability testing, focus group, and user satisfaction survey. The study developed with the proposed protocol investigates assistive technology adequacy to target users. The tasks performed by 30 users were categorized as activities of entertainment, learning, and social inclusion. It is considered that the main contribution of this chapter is to provide the protocol and methodology, adapted for use in evaluations of accessibility products and devices.
As humans, we rely heavily on our vision to interact with the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that individuals who are profoundly blind must make remarkable adjustments in order to pursue education, secure employment, and remain socially integrated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide; 39 million of whom are considered profoundly blind (WHO 2012) see also (Frick and Foster 2003). While significant progress has been made in eye care delivery and treatment, in developed countries (such as the United States), there are approximately 10 million visually impaired and 1.3 million legally blind individuals; a significant proportion of which are children (estimated at 55,200) (AFB 2013a, b).
Visual disability has a major impact on people’s quality of life. Although there are many technologies to assist people who are blind, most of them do not necessarily guarantee the effectiveness of the intended use. As part of research developed at the University of Chile since 1994, we investigate the interfaces for people who are blind regarding a gap in cognitive impact, which include a broad spectrum of the cognitive process. In this work, first, a systematic literature review concerning the cognitive impact evaluation of multimodal interface for people who are blind was conducted. The study selection criteria include the papers which present technology with a multimodal interfaces for people who are blind that use a method to evaluate the cognitive impact of interfaces. Then, the results of the systematic literature review were reported with the purpose of understanding how the cognitive impact is currently evaluated when using multimodal interfaces for people who are blind. Among forty-seven papers retrieved from the systematic review, a high diversity of experiments was found. Some of them do not present the data results clearly and do not apply a statistical method to guarantee the results. Besides this, other points related to the experiments were analyzed. The conclusion was there is a need to better plan and present data from experiments on technologies for cognition of people who are blind. Moreover, this work also presented a data qualitative analysis based on the Grounded Theory based method to complement and enrich the systematic review results. Finally, a set of guidelines to conduct experiments concerning the cognitive impact evaluation of multimodal interfaces for people who are blind are presented.
Collaborative Virtual Environment concepts have been used in many systems in the past few years. Applications of such technology range from military combat simulations to various civilian commercial applications. In this paper we present a CVE prototype developed for industrial tele-training. We are showing that users can successfully control the environment through wireless input based on video processing and speech recognition.
Blind children tend to represent spatial environments with cognitive difficulty. The absence of visual stimuli processing impedes the construction of rich representations of the surrounding space. This can be decreased if they are exposed to interactive experiences with acoustic stimuli delivered through spatialized sound software complemented with cognitive tasks tailored to accomplish richer representations. A few studies have approached this issue by using interactive applications that integrate virtual reality and cognitive tasks to enhance spatial orientation skills. The aim of this research has been to design interactive software based on spatialized sound to help blind learners to construct cognitive spatial structures.
Mental mapping of spaces, and of the possible paths for navigating these spaces, is essential for the development of efficient orientation and mobility skills. Most of the information required for this mental mapping is gathered through the visual channel. Blind people lack this crucial information and in consequence face great difficulties (a) in generating efficient mental maps of spaces, and therefore (b) in navigating efficiently within these spaces. The work reported in this paper follows the assumption that the supply of appropriate spatial information through compensatory sensorial channels, as an alternative to the (impaired) visual channel, may contribute to the mental mapping of spaces and consequently, to blind people's spatial performance. The main tool in the study was a virtual environment enabling blind people to learn about real life spaces, which they are required to navigate.
In recent years much attention has been paid to network-based, distributed environments like text-based MUDs and MOOs for supporting collaborative work. Such environments offer a shared virtual world in which interactions can take place irrespective of the actual physical proximity or distance of interactants. Although these environments have proven successful within social, recreational and educational domains, few data have been reported concerning use of such systems in the workplace. In this paper we summarize in-depth interviews with 8 MUDders from a software research and development community where a MUD has been operational and actively used for a number of years. The interviews suggest that the MUD fills a valuable communication niche for this workgroup, being used both synchronously and asynchronously to enable the establishment of new contacts and the maintenance of existing contacts. These observations are discussed in the context of the organization under study.
Terraformers is the result of three years of practical research in developing a real-time 3D graphic game accessible for blind and low vision gamers as well as full sighted gamers. This presentation focus on the sound interface and how it relates to the 3D graphic world, and also include post mortem survey results from gamers and comments to those.
A MOO is a text-based, multi-participant, user-extensible, object-oriented virtual environment in which users can interact with each other via the Internet polysynchronously (in synchronous and asynchronous time) and build meaningful artifacts. MOO technology provides us a single, low-cost, highly supportive venue for online activities. However, it is one of, the forgotten, virtual community border technologies. This paper gives an introduction to MOOs, presents the advantages and disadvantages of MOOs, and discusses the future potentialities of the MOO platform. Will MOOs experience a rebirth, or will they continue to stagnate as a legacy technology?