Enhancing Orientation and Mobility Skills in Learners who are Blind through Video gaming

Abstract

In this work we present the results of the cognitive impact evaluation regarding the use of Audiopolis, an audio and/or haptic-based videogame. The software has been designed, developed and evaluated for the purpose of developing orientation and mobility (O&M) skills in blind users. The videogame was evaluated through cognitive tasks performed by a sample of 12 learners. The results demonstrated that the use of Audiopolis had a positive impact on the development and use of O&M skills in school-aged blind learners.

INTRODUCTION

The way in which a blind learner interacts with technology is heavily influenced by his or her mastery of and access to Braille techniques, as well as the use of screen readers to access computer applications that are currently used by sighted learners. Although these technologies are important for learning by blind users, they do not provide a total solution to their educational needs.

It is thus interesting to explore the use of interactive digital technologies in developing orientation and mobility (O&M) skills. This is especially interesting in the case of a country like Chile, where there are practically no existing applications that support the teaching of techniques for moving through urban areas. In Chile, typical teaching techniques favor achieving a deeper understanding of the senses, complemented by the use of models or other O&M training activities for visually disabled learners. An adequate mastery over such skills is key for visually impaired people, as otherwise their communication, interaction, movement and above all their autonomy and independence can be deficient. All of these elements are necessary to achieve an acceptable level of school integration and social inclusion.

In this way, scientific evidence has called for researchers to take up work on the use of spatial audio and haptic interfaces, in order to facilitate the pedagogical use of such technology in the stimulation and development of O&M skills. Such technological applications can be used to provide both useful and contextual information for correct navigation and a successful journey and movement in daily school-life contexts. [3, 4, 6, 7, 8].

The main problems that blind people have when moving about are: determining their location in the environment, knowing which direction they are facing, the direction of their body movements, and the lack of information regarding significant objects in the environment, such as the distance between such objects and how near or far away they are [1]. In this context, any information on the characteristics of these objects is very important and relevant for a blind person.

In a familiar spatial environment, whether indoor or outdoor, a blind user can perform conventional navigation, as he or she is familiar with the surrounding environment and its context. In an unfamiliar environment, the experience can be complex and completely dynamic [2]. To avoid risk and to move about safely, blind people prefer to move around the perimeter of an environment rather than through the middle of a room. This way of exploring the environment can lead users to inefficient solutions to their navigational challenges [2]. It is easier for them to navigate a route by following the wall, being able to find access points more easily and obtain a route that they would not otherwise use if moving through other spaces [3]. When a blind user has more time to explore and dedicate time to becoming familiar with and moving about through an indoor environment, he or she is willing to listen to descriptions to identify details that would allow for a more precise level of navigation [3].

When blind people opt for safer and familiar routes instead of more efficient ones, they take into account aspects such as the location of a few key obstacles, diminishing the risk of tripping or bumping into objects, and avoiding places where the cane cannot detect objects [5]. This is complicated, as the problems that blind users face in a mobile context are varied and dynamic, which makes it difficult to make decisions regarding the best routes to follow, and generates movements with a very low degree of autonomy [2].

Based these issues, it is essential to establish a mental map of a space in order to generate an efficient development of O&M techniques. It is well known that most of the information required to form such a mental representation is obtained through visual channels [8]. For blind users, it is impossible to access this information quickly as in the case of sighted users, and they are obliged to use other sensory channels such as audio and touch, in addition to other methods of exploration [4]. Lahav & Mioduser [3, 4] have studied the relation between the mental representations of space generated by blind users through the use of virtual environments with audio and haptic interfaces, in addition to the transfer of such representations to the real world. To achieve this, they utilized a virtual environment similar to a real-world environment that the blind users habitually navigate, in order to train them to improve their real-life navigation.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of the use of audio and haptic-based videogames on the development and use of O&M skills in both indoor and outdoor spaces. To fulfill this objective, the usability of an audio and/or haptic-based videogame called Audiopolis was designed, developed and evaluated with this specific goal [7]. The present work shows the results of the cognitive impact evaluation on the development of O&M skills through the use of the Audiopolis videogame by blind learners.

AUDIOPOLIS

Audiopolis was created based on the metaphor of exploring a virtual city, in which blind users navigate between various points in order to resolve different mysteries regarding the robbery of various objects. The videogame was designed to represent any kind of outdoor urban environment for navigation by blind learners. This environment can be real or fictitious. Various elements and components of a city can be included in the environment, such as streets and buildings, including Banks, Museums, Jewelry Stores, Hospitals, Restaurants, Shops, City Hall, Parks, Plazas, Libraries, Bookstores, Schools, Universities, Hotels, Supermarkets, Houses, Apartment Buildings and Office Buildings. In particular, Audiopolis was designed and developed to represent a physical environment that includes the previously mentioned elements (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Audiopolis level map.

The videogame is played from a first person perspective. The user can move freely throughout the environment, including forward, backward and turning left and right. The user recognizes the various surfaces through which he or she is traveling either through audio or haptic feedback, as well as the various obstacles that can be found as the player moves through the virtual city. The idea is that the user can move about independently and familiarize themselves with the entire map through established routes.

The game consists of 3 different levels of difficulty; easy, medium and advanced. For each level, the map of the city expands out on four sides, leaving more free space for the player to move about. In addition, the map integrates new elements that increase the level of complexity as the user moves through the environment.

There are 3 stages within each level. In each stage, a thief steals an object and the objective of the game is to find the thief. In each stage, the player begins at the scene of the crime and must find 3 different places within the city while “chasing” the thief. The player must also solve each of the questions that are presented in order to receive the next clue and be able to continue moving throughout the city.

The videogame possesses 3 modalities for the interaction with a blind user (haptic, audio and haptic and audio), which operate in combination with the graphic interface [7].

COGNITIVE IMPACT EVALUATION

The sample was made up of 12 learners (8 females and 4 males) between 10 and 15 years of age, with special educational needs due to visual impairment (11 blind and 1 with low vision). All were from within the first or second cycles of General Elementary Education, from the Helen Keller School and Santa Lucia Educational Center in Santiago, Chile.

Three training tasks and 12 cognitive tasks were established. The training tasks were designed to introduce the participants to the concepts and components that the videogame are based on. The cognitive tasks were focused on developing specific O&M skills based on the software interface.

The design of the O&M Test was performed in order to estimate the level of knowledge related to this specific area of learning for learners with Visual Impairment. The dimensions included are: (i) Sensory development (SD), that contains 35 indicators, which included the sub-dimensions Audio sensory development (ASD), with 12 indicators, and Haptic sensory development (HSD) with 23 indicators, (ii) Tempo-spatial development dimension (TSD) that contains 24 indicators, and (iii) O&M Techniques dimension (O&MT) that contains 12 indicators, grouping together 71 indicators. The evaluation criteria for each indicator were: Achieved (A), In Process (IP), Not Achieved (NA), with scores of 2, 1 and 0, respectively.

In the phase prior to the use of the software, the O&M test was applied as a pre-test in order to record the subjects’ initial skills. Afterwards, the users performed the 3 training tasks related to the skills that they needed to have before using the videogame. During the process of the intervention with the videogame, the users performed the 12 cognitive tasks during one session per task. Each session involved playing with the videogame and carrying out a series of activities according to the previously described dimensions, and in accordance with the 3 levels of complexity included in the videogame. Finally, in the final stage the O&M test was applied to the users as a post-test, in order to determine whether or not there was any impact on the previously evaluated skills.

RESULTS

For the O&M Test, the entire set of participants was analyzed according to the videogame interface group. The following dimensions and sub-dimensions of the O&M test were analyzed. Each dimension is evaluated through the sum of indicators that contains: SD (min-value=0, max-value=70), ASD (min-value=0, max-value=24), HSD (min-value=0, max-value=46), TSD (min-value=0, max-value=48), O&MT (min-value=0, max-value=24), and Global (min-value=0, max-value=142). The Global is the sum of SD plus TSD and O&MT. The SD dimension is the sum of ASD plus HSD.

Pre-test and Post-test of the entire group

In obtaining the results for the 12 users in the sample, a t test was performed to compare the means of the indicators obtained for the pre-test and the post-test. The results are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1.

T Test Results

Indicator	Pre-test Mean	Post-test Mean	Diff.	t	P
ASD	21.420	23.250	1.833	-4.005	0.002
HSD	42.830	44.500	1.667	-3.079	0.010
SD	64.250	67.750	3.500	-5.326	0.001
TSD	40.080	44.000	3.917	-1.777	0.103
O&MT	16.170	19.080	2.917	-2.907	0.014
Global	120.170	132.000	11.833	-4.366	0.001

All of the dimensions presented increases in their post-test means compared to the pre-test means (see Table 1). However, these differences in the averages were statistically significant only in the ASD dimension (t=-4.005; p<0.05), HSD dimension (t=-3.079; p<0.05), SD dimension (t=-5.326; p<0.05), O&MT dimension (t=-2.907; p<0.05) and the Global Indicator (t=-4.366; p<0.05).

Pre-Test and Post-Test by sample group

In segmenting the sample of users based on the differing software variants, we have 3 groups of 4 users each, for the Audio, Haptic and Audio+Haptic versions, respectively.

In the Audio group, all of the dimensions presented increased in the post-test averages compared to the means obtained on the pre-test (see Table 2). However, these differences in the means were not statistically significant.

Table 2.

Results of the Audio Group

Indicator	Pre-test Mean	Post-test Mean	Diff.	t	P
ASD	21.750	23.000	1.250	-1.127	0.342
HSD	41.000	42.000	1.000	-1.414	0.252
SD	62.750	65.000	2.250	-2.635	0.078
TSD	39.750	46.000	6.250	-1.311	0.281
O&MT	17.750	21.000	3.250	-2.177	0.118
Global	120.250	132.000	11.750	-2.114	0.125

In the Haptic group, all of the dimensions except for the TSD dimension presented increased in their post-test means compared to the pre-test means (see Table 3). However, these differences in the averages were statistically significant only in the ASD dimension (t=-3.667; p<0.05) and the SD dimension (t=-4.392; p<0.05).

Table 3.

Results of the Haptic Group

Indicator	Pre-test Mean	Post-test Mean	Diff.	t	P
ASD	20.750	23.500	2.750	-3.667	0.035
HSD	45.000	46.000	1.000	-2.449	0.092
SD	65.750	69.500	3.750	-4.392	0.022
TSD	44.000	42.500	-1.500	0.714	0.527
O&MT	15.000	16.250	1.250	-0.547	0.623
Global	123.750	130.750	7.000	-1.689	0.190

In the Audio+Haptic group, all of the dimensions presented increased in their post-test means compared to the pre-test means (see Table 4). However, these differences in the averages were statistically significant only in the ASD dimension (t=-5.196; p<0.05) and the Global Indicator (t=-4.075; p<0.05).

Table 4.

Results of the Audio+Haptic Group

Indicator	Pre-test Mean	Post-test Mean	Diff.	t	P
ASD	21.750	23.250	1.500	-5.196	0.014
HSD	42.500	45.500	3.000	-2.324	0.103
SD	64.250	68.750	4.500	-2.895	0.063
TSD	36.500	43.500	7.000	-2.064	0.131
O&MT	15.750	20.000	4.250	-2.959	0.060
Global	116.500	133.250	16.750	-4.075	0.027

DISCUSSION

The virtual environment, as a simulation of a space with urban characteristics, allowed learners to work within a “safe environment”. When performing the search tasks that were asked of them, the learners put their prior knowledge to test, reinforcing previously acquired concepts. In this way, their predisposition to learning was favored by using the videogame. The learners were observed to be highly motivated while performing the various activities.

The learners were also able to create new strategies for solving the problems regarding movement through a virtual space with Audiopolis. Such strategies included going backwards to become reoriented while on a route, circling around different objects, and guiding movements by sound or touch in order to get to know the boundaries of a space. In general, the group of learners displayed an increase in navigational skills by using the videogame, which can be observed through the speed with which they surpassed the various stages of the videogame, moving through the game with increasing efficiency.

The use of different interfaces in the videogame helped to generate a positive effect on the learning of O&M skills. Initially, the statistical results regarding the difference in the means obtained between the pre-test and the post-test segmented by group according to the software interface utilized resulted in an increase that was not statistically significant. However, upon performing an analysis with the entire sample together, the increase in means was statistically significant for some dimensions. These dimensions included the Sensory Development dimension (in addition to the Audio Sensory Development and Haptic Sensory Development sub-dimensions), the O&M Techniques dimension, and the Global Indicator of O&M dimension. As future work, it is proposed to widen the sample base in order to obtain significant results by group of the different interfaces utilized.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of Audiopolis, an audio and haptic-based videogame, had a positive impact on the development and use of O&M skills in school age blind learners. Based on this, it can be inferred that the videogame’s audio and/or haptic interfaces favor and aid in the development of O&M skills in blind learners.

The audio, haptic and combined audio-haptic stimuli aided in generating an increased understanding of the participants’ senses. It was observed that in order to orient themselves, the users preferred the use of audio rather than haptic feedback.