Video Games for the Visually Impaired

Reported November 2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Gamers spend hours playing their favorite video games. With all the hi-tech graphics, most are designed for those who can see. A new game created by electrical and computer engineers is scoring high marks for visually impaired players, too.

When you think of video games, flashy lights and graphics come to mind; but the game AudiOdyssey is designed to give those with sight disadvantages the same advantages as players with good vision.

"We were interested in seeing if we could make a game that would work equally well for both groups," Eitan Glinert a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., told Ivanhoe.

AudiOdyssey focuses on sound. The premise of the game is the player is a DJ trying build a catchy tune and get people on the dance floor. Players must match beats by swinging a Wii remote. Each time they get it right, a new layer of sound is added.

"As I match [the] beats the song gets more difficult," Glinert said.

Bluetooth technology wirelessly connects the Wii remote to the computer. AudiOdyssey can also be played using the arrow keys on your computer. Unlike many games, a real voice guides players through the menus.

"Everything that happens in the game has two components -- the visual component where you can see what's going on, and then there is the audio component where you can also hear what's going on," Glinert said.

Clara Fernandez tested the system by playing it blindfolded.

"It's a very similar experience if you do it without looking or you cannot see," Fernandez told Ivanhoe. "It [actually] might be more enjoyable, because you are focusing on the music, and you're enjoying the music as you go."

The developer hopes news like that will be music to visually impaired players' ears.

AudiOdyssey is designed for Windows users and can be downloaded online for free.

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Eitan Glinert
Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
Cambridge, MA
(617) 416-6863
glinert@mit.edu

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Washington, DC
(202) 530-8353
http://www.ieee.org
ieeeusa@ieee.org

Lois Smith
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 394-1811
http://www.hfes.org
lois@hfes.org

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