Virtual Reality in the Dark: VR Development for People Who Are Blind

Today’s commercial VR systems provide interaction methods allowing people with disabilities to experience gaming and virtual environments as never before. Aaron Gluck will discuss developing two VR game prototypes, The Enclosing Dark: A VR Auditory Adventure and Racing in the Dark, neither of which uses visuals to provide information to the player.

He has accomplished this by focusing on the usually supplemental information channels: audio and haptic feedback. Through Aaron’s research and implementations, learn how current VR technology can be leveraged to support highly accessible content.

The talk covers:

• An exploration of two VR game prototypes
• Learnings of developing VR games for people who are blind
• Future directions

What will attendees gain?

• Accessible VR games and experiences that do not rely on the visual information channel are possible
• Understanding of methods and techniques to provide valuable in-game information through non-visual channels

PRESENTER BIO
Aaron Gluck is a third-year Human-Centered Computing Ph.D. student at Clemson University. He works in the Design and Research of In-Vehicle Experiences (DRIVE) Lab, where he researches accessible autonomous vehicle human-machine interfaces for older adults and people with disabilities. Aaron’s personal research interests are related to accessible VR.

For the last three years, he has been trying to answer the question, "What would an accessible virtual reality game for people who are blind look like?" His passion and love for VR have led Aaron to focus on making VR accessible so everyone can share in the experience. Aaron lives in Clemson, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters.

ACCESSIBILITY
The presentation will be captioned [cc]. The event will have real-time captions displayed in Hubs and YouTube live stream.

Mozilla Hubs holds weekly office hours that can be used to practice and gain an understanding of how to interact in Mozilla Hubs.

LIVESTREAM
We will have video streaming of the event to YouTube via a partnership with the Internet Society Accessibility SIG (a11ySIG).

Link: https://youtu.be/pqQWuZyURYw

If you are unable to join via Hubs, we encourage you to watch the stream on YouTube and ask questions. As we begin meeting regularly each month we will capture feedback on ways we can be more accessible and inclusive in virtual reality and start incorporating them into a set of Best Practices.

SPONSORS
Thanks to Equal Entry for sponsoring.

ACCREDITATION
All A11yVR meetups are pre-approved for IAAP Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAEC).

TIMELINE
Please NOTE: Meetup is not skilled in representing time zones. This Meetup is set in Tokyo, Japan so it will display differently than your local time zone. When you RSVP, use the "Add to calendar" link to receive a calendar invite transcribed to your time zone.

This timeline is based on the New York ET time zone.

7 - 7:15 PM
Thomas Logan introduction to A11yVR

7:15 - 7:50 PM
Presentation

7:50 - 8 PM
Q&A with attendees

8 - 9 PM
Breakout sessions in small groups to get to know each other in virtual reality. It is up to you if you want to stay and continue meeting other people in the room.