Virtual Showdown: An Accessible Virtual Reality Game with Scaffolds for Youth with Visual Impairments

Ryan Wedoff; Lindsay Ball; Amelia Wang; Yi Xuan Khoo; Lauren Lieberman; Kyle Rector

doi:10.1145/3290605.3300371

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Conference proceeding

Virtual Showdown: An Accessible Virtual Reality Game with Scaffolds for Youth with Visual Impairments

Ryan Wedoff, Lindsay Ball, Amelia Wang, Yi Xuan Khoo, Lauren Lieberman and Kyle Rector

Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems, pp.1-15

CHI '19

05/02/2019

DOI: 10.1145/3290605.3300371

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Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is a growing source of entertainment, but people who are visually impaired have not been effectively included. Audio cues are motivated as a complement to visuals, making experiences more immersive, but are not a primary cue. To address this, we implemented a VR game called Virtual Showdown. We based Virtual Showdown on an accessible real-world game called Showdown, where people use their hearing to locate and hit a ball against an opponent. Further, we developed Verbal and Verbal/Vibration Scaffolds to teach people how to play Virtual Showdown. We assessed the acceptability of Virtual Showdown and compared our scaffolds in an empirical study with 34 youth who are visually impaired. Thirty-three participants wanted to play Virtual Showdown again, and we learned that participants scored higher with the Verbal Scaffold or if they had prior Showdown experience. Our empirical findings inform the design of future accessible VR experiences.

blind

haptics

low vision

spatial audio

virtual reality

youth

Details

Title: Subtitle: Virtual Showdown: An Accessible Virtual Reality Game with Scaffolds for Youth with Visual Impairments
Creators: Ryan Wedoff - Microsoft (United States)
Lindsay Ball - SUNY Brockport
Amelia Wang - University of Washington
Yi Xuan Khoo - University of Iowa
Lauren Lieberman - SUNY Brockport
Kyle Rector - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Conference proceeding
Publication Details: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems, pp.1-15
Series: CHI '19
DOI: 10.1145/3290605.3300371
Publisher: ACM
Grant note: name: CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC), award: Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) program
Language: English
Date published: 05/02/2019
Academic Unit: Computer Science
Record Identifier: 9984259465502771

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