Towards an Immersive Auditory-based Journey Planner for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

Large cities typically host many important services, businesses and activities accessed by the vision-impaired community. Supporting safe and independent orientation and mobility is thus a key priority for city municipalities. We outline the conceptual design of an immersive auditory based simulator to assist journey planning and enhance route familiarity for pedestrians with low vision or blindness. As proofs of concept, we present both a web and smartphone auditory-based virtual reality simulator, in which narrative speech describing specific locations, in combination with immersive and spatially located auditory cues recorded from those locations, is delivered to the user. We discuss technical challenges, and how this tool aims to address journey preparation, route familiarisation, and cognitive load challenges for city users with vision impairment.