Speed-of-Light VR for Blind People: Conveying the Location of Arm-Reach Targets

Interacting with close-range objects in Virtual Reality (VR) is often prompted by visual cues, making it hard for visually impaired people to perceive their location and interact with them. To study how to enable blind users to locate and interact with close virtual objects, we adapted the arcade Speed-of-Light game as a blind-accessible VR application. We implemented three techniques: 1) Speech Feedback (e.g., “Top Right”), 2) Sonification, and 3) 2D Grid Position (e.g., “A3” for column and row); and conducted a user study with 15 blind participants aiming to provide insights into the design of non-visual techniques that convey information about targets at arm-reach. Speech Feedback was the most intuitive overall but verbose and the least flexible, while 2D Grid Position was found straightforward for regular spreadsheet users. Results also showed greater difficulty with Sonification, although it was valued by few participants who appreciated the challenge.