EchoExplorer: A Game App for Understanding Echolocation and Learning to Navigate Using Echo Cues
Author(s)
Wu, Wenyu
Morina, Rudina
Schenker, Arley
Gotsis, Alexander
Chivukula, Harsha
Gardner, Madeline
Liu, Felix
Barton, Spencer
Woyach, Steven
Sinopoli, Bruno
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Abstract
Echolocation -- the ability to detect objects in space
through the perception of echoes from these objects --
has been identified as a promising venue to help
visually impaired individuals navigate within their
environments. The interest is in part because a proof-of-concept
exists: certain visually impaired individuals are
able to navigate using active echolocation. Why, then is
echolocation is not in more widespread use among
visually impaired individuals? It is possible that a lack
of systematic echolocation training platforms has
impeded individuals in picking up this skill. We
designed a game-application that serves as a training
platform for individuals, sighted or not, to train
themselves to echolocate. Preliminary testing from both
sighted and visually impaired individuals showed that
users uniformly understood the game, although their
enjoyment of the game was mixed. Although a number
of game features could be improved, it is a promising
training tool prototype for individuals learning to use
echo cues for navigational purposes.
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Date
2017-06
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Text
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Proceedings
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.