from ACM technews
Virtual Worlds Open Up to Blind
BBC News (09/18/07) Adams-Spink, Geoff
Students participating in Extreme Blue in Ireland, hosted by IBM, are
conducting research that could lead to online virtual worlds accessible to
blind people. Some estimates predict that 80 percent of active Internet
users will participate in virtual worlds in four years, and IBM says they
want to ensure that blind people are not excluded. The student researchers
have developed an audio equivalent of the virtual world that uses 3D sound
to create a sense of space. For the project, known as Accessibility In
Virtual Worlds, the researchers used the online environments in Active
Worlds because it provided greater flexibility than Second Life, which was
used to make the world more hospitable to the blind. "When the user comes
into the world, the items are described as well as their positions," says
Colm O'Brien, one of the four researchers who worked on the project.
"There is also sound attached--for example, if there's a tree nearby you
will hear a rustling of leaves." The project also focused on developing
tools that use text to speech software to read any text conversations that
users have in the virtual world. Avatars in the virtual world can have a
"sonar" attached to them so the user gets an audible cue that another user
is approaching.
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