USING VIRTUAL REALITY TO A L L E V I AT E V I S I O N I
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AYUSH SHARMA 200981591
Thesis report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of the MA Architecture
School of Architecture The University of Liverpool September 2014
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people that have supported me during my Thesis project. I would like to thank my tutor Mike Knight for his insight on the topic and having a belief in me for working on such a na誰ve topic. Special thanks go to Anil Tuncel for helping me with software related issues faced by me during the creation of the interface and Andy Cheng, Kiruba Shankar and Saravana Bharath for their assistance with the interface experimentations. I would like to thanks all the participants who took out time and helped me with the survey. Last but not the least, heart-warming thanks to my family who supported my decision to pursue my higher studies from a foreign country, and to the friends who backed me up during this time.
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Abstract Architecture is the field responsible for developing built environments for the society. Sometimes, the study ignores the needs and necessities of the disabled people. Most of the designs for disabilities come from codes and government regulations and are less of a creative process eliminating any possibilities of developing a new idea or better ways of doing the things. To add more to the problem, most of the provisions provided in the society revolve around physical disabilities, but other disabilities like, visual, olfactory and others are neglected. This study will took into account that visually disabled people have all the rights to access and utilise the built spaces around them and there is a need for an allinclusive design which respect all the prevailing disabilities in the society and give them a sense of oneness within the world. This research will utilise the concept of ‘Virtual Reality’ to develop an interface which can be used by the architects to justify their designs for visually challenged individuals by simulating different vision impairments and access their designs in a virtual world and thus, saving a post-construction needs of changing, adjusting spaces according to the needs. Parallel to this main topic, the research will look into answering few other subordinate questions regarding the alliance of architecture with virtual reality in order to establish VR as a definitive platform.
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Contents Acknowledgements Abstract 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Context 1.1.1 Architects role towards disabilities 1.1.2 Visual Disabilities 1.1.3 Virtual Reality 1.1.4 Vision Impairments Simulation 1.2 Investigation 1.2.1 Research questions 1.2.2. Scope and limitations 1.2.3 Methodology 1.2.4 Structure 1.2.5 Outcome
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2.0 Vision Impairments and Virtual Reality 2.1 Vision Impairments 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Causes 2.1.3 Virtual Reality Simulations 2.2 Virtual Reality 2.2.1 Different types of headsets 2.2.2 Google Cardboard – A Comparison
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3.0 Visual Impairment Simulations 3.1 Unity3D 3.1.1 About Unity3D 3.1.2 Initial simulations on Unity3D 3.2 Problem with blind spots 3.3 Using Refraction for real-time simulations
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4.0 Physical Simulation & Android Platform 4.1 Physical Simulation 4.2 Simulation Using Android Platform
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5.0 Survey 5.1 Setup 5.2 Discussion 5.3 Limitations
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6.0 Conclusion 6.1 Further Study 6.2 BIM with VR 6.3 VR with Augmented Reality
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Appendices Appendix 1: Questionnaire Appendix 2: The Results
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References
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Bibliography
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Image Credits
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1.0 Introduction 1.1 Context 1.1.1 Architects role towards disabilities Architects play a vital role in shaping the society. The society refers to ‘the elderly’ and ‘the disabled’ as a distinct group outside the mainstream population and hence an all-inclusive design is more of a mandatory imposed exercise on the architects. Recently, disabled people have become increasingly assertive about their rights to access buildings and services. Soldiers’ sacrifices during the wars and sufferings which public went through also triggered the rise in demand for an inclusive society (Clarkson 2003). The role of an Architect had gradually evolved from a box-checker to comply for the provisions to contributing back to the society for their needs and necessities. Designing for disabilities is not possible in real-time and it requires standard codes to implement it back into the design. This practice makes the process unpractical for many social aspects of the spaces. The standard data and codes are also only provided for people with physical disabilities and very little or no information is provided for other disabilities like sensory disorders including vision impairment. With the help of researches done in prior field architects are not able to design well versed for physical disabilities but designing for other disabilities is still a long way to go. This aspect plays a critical role while designing establishments such as hospitals, old age homes and schools for blinds and low vision. There is a need of serious work to be done towards other disabilities so that they can reclaim their status back in the society as given to physical disabilities.
1.1.2 Visual Disabilities In the present scenario the built environment around us possess many provisions for physically handicapped people such as accessible parking, ramps, handicapped toilets just to name a few. On the other hand, when speaking of other disabilities, visual ones in this case there is hardly any provision provided in the social built environment. The only support most of these people are just in the form on blind canes which haven’t evolved much over a period of time. What is more striking is that most of this percentage is not legit blinds and they display a varied range of impairments ranging from colour, contrast and zonal sight loss. According to the estimates from World Health Organisation (WHO) out of 285.389 million visually impaired people only 39.365 were blinds, rest exhibit different forms of low vision (WHO 6
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2010). Despite those numbers, society considers vision impairments as a ‘no vision’ case. “While 1 million people in the UK are registered as blind or partially sighted, most have some sight, and yet all are varied in their capacity to see (Imrie and Hall 2003)”. According to National Health Services (NHS), “Visual impairment is when a person has sight loss that cannot be fully corrected using glasses or contact lenses”(NHS 2014). Furthermore, most common cause of vision impairments in UK is Age Related Macular Degeneration, Cataracts, Glauoma and Diabetic Retinopathy.
1.1.3 Virtual Reality ‘Virtual Reality’ a term coined by Jaron Lanier in 1987, is the concept of creating immersive computer generated environment aimed towards interaction with people, generally using specified physical mediums. Initially VR technology remained confined to scientists and military for simulating low tolerance missions or flights. VR gradually moved into mainstream usage with the development of affordable software and hardware. To this date VR is a household name with its application widespread in television, motion sensor games, and others. VR technology experienced a stagnant growth in the past decade with not much development, but recently with the announcement of sleek VR interfaces like Oculus Rift, Vrase, Dive, Sony & Samsung VR headsets the limelight again moved to these next generation HMD(Head Mounted Device). Virtual Reality (VR) is a new trend in technology again lately which involves a device and stereoscopic projection of imagery to create an immersive virtual environment for the user. Entertainment and gaming industry provides a base platform for the development of VR technology but it had been known to be used in various medical and scientific researches. With the recent VR platforms it is now easily affordable and can be used with little knowledge of some gaming software. It is successfully used to simulated military and medical operations to give a real-time experience in the virtual environment.
Figure 1. Oculus Rift Headset
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Figure 2. Vrase Headset, (using mobile platform)
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1.1.4 Vision Impairments Simulations What we see is what we perceive. This implies that society cannot judge the difficulties and hardship faced by the vision impaired people and neither the architects can. Designing for something which one cannot perceive is too theoretical a practice and would demand a significant amount of codes and conducts to fulfil the requirements. The simulations in this area would allow the designers to feel the problems faced by an individual such as turning on the switch, recognising changes in the levels, reading the instructions and many such day to day activities. Exposure to the simulation can allow designers to overcome the barrier of unknowingness and hence, do the justice with their built environments specially the ones designed exclusively for this population group.
1.2 Investigation 1.2.1 Research Question Architecture had seen a tremendous shift in the social paradigm of the field interacting with the world. It had evolved from practical approach of construction on site to documentation of structures, earlier on tangible mediums and most recently on the virtual world. This practice had changed the way in which architecture evolves during a course of time, involving a creation of virtual environment to experience the final outcomes of any design. With the advancement in technology this medium is constantly refining itself in equal pace. The interface of the architecture had evolved from using of simple two-dimensional lines to coloured photographic renderings to animated walkthroughs. Most recently this medium had taken a leap towards creating a virtual environment to create a virtual interface to create an illusion of reality which can allow a user to experience the things in real time. The research started with looking upon the use of new age virtual reality products over various architectural aspects like visualisation and mobile BIM. The thesis topic was evolved from a prior work done in research group placement leading to the possibility of using VR to help towards the construction of built environment for the visually challenged people. This work led to the research question: How can Virtual Reality assist the Architects to alleviate vision impairments by enabling them to carry out an inclusive design scheme for the vision impaired people? To answer that question, this research study will address the following subordinate questions: 
How can Virtual Reality help in assisting people with vision impairments to interact with their surrounding architecture? 8
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Can VR be used to simulate all the vision impairments for understanding in a more interactive way rather than using the conventional methods?
How can this research benefit the field of architecture in general?
How can architects take advantage of this interface?
Can this platform be clubbed with BIM to get some advantages?
1.2.2 Scope and limitations Since there had not been a great amount of work done in the field of Architecture along with the virtual reality setup, this research will have to divert a little towards the gaming and computer programming to achieve the end result which can be helpful for the architecture. The scope of this research is to establish an interface which can be used by Architects and architectural practices to evaluate their designs for visually impaired people and hence enabling them to do optimum designing for them. This research differs from some of the other researches as it is targeting architectural studies unlike a medical or an awareness project. The research aims at delivering a tangible product which can be used in the future and can be improved upon with time. This interface will simulate some of the most prevailing vision impairments in UK like Age-related Macular Degeneration and Tunnel Vision and then test the results over a short participant group for its credibility and in-depth understanding. The sample size of the participant group can be increased in the future for getting a wider opinion on the interface. The short duration of thesis would not allow studying all the different vision impairments and hence only few will be focussed upon to get a quality result instead of quantity. As mentioned above macular degeneration and tunnel vision seems most apt for the research at UK. Also, the vision impairment exhibits various levels and varied type of disorder within the same impairment. This vivid spectrum is unable to match as it varies from person to person thus, the work done will be generalised in the nature and not to be compared with an individual’s impairment.
1.2.3 Methodology The research study focusses on developing an interface which can be used to simulate vision impairments over the virtual environment. Being a research by design project, a significant part of the study will be contributed towards research done in the area and works by other authors. The study will try to extract the architectural aspects from the various works to develop an end product for the architectural industry. Once the interface is developed, it 9
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will be put to a test by conducting a survey amongst a short participant group to get a fidelity report of the interface towards simulating vision impairments. This study will address various other works, architectural or non-architectural, done in the field of virtual reality. “Historically the simulation of visual impairments has mostly been achieved through the use of 'artist impressions'. Photographs which have been modified to recreate an impression of visual impairments remain widely used as the standard training tool for medical professionals” (Lewis, Shires, and Brown 2012). The study will focus on the conventional methods of simulating the impairments like acetate goggles to compare them with the proposed virtual reality simulations.
1.2.4 Structure This thesis report will start with talking about various vision impairments and new gen virtual reality headset. The study will then touch upon the development of the interface to simulate vision impairments and the process involved in achieving the end result. The use of gaming software and VR products will be briefly discussed during the evolution of the interface to get a better understanding of the work done throughout the thesis project. The study will give an insight into the survey and the data collection, in order to shape the conclusion for the task along with all the limitations. In the end the conclusion will aim at providing the optimum practice which can be performed to achieve a better built environment for the visually challenged people.
1.2.5 Outcome The research thesis aims at providing an interface to be used as a platform for developing an inclusive design for the visually impaired people. These built environments shall aim at satisfying all the basic needs and necessities of an impaired individual. The research done during this project and achievements unlocked with virtual reality platform will enable the architects to think out of the box while designing for all inclusive social buildings and aid the vision disability to achieve back its social equality status in the society. The major outcome of this study is breaking the social paradigm of classifying all vision impairments as “blinds” by the society and working towards a huge percentage which are somewhat lost between the two extremes.
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2.0 Vision Impairments And Virtual Reality 2.1 Vision Impairments 2.1.1 Definition “There are 4 levels of visual function, according to the International Classification of Diseases -10 (Update and Revision 2006): 1. normal vision 2. moderate visual impairment 3. severe visual impairment 4. blindness. Moderate visual impairment combined with severe visual impairment are grouped under the term “low vision”: low vision taken together with blindness represents all visual impairment” (WHO 2014). “Visual impairment is when a person has sight loss that cannot be fully corrected using glasses or contact lenses”(NHS 2014).
2.1.2 Causes “The “Future Sight Loss UK 2” report (Minassian and Reidy, 2009) developed a model for estimating the prevalence of sight threatening eye conditions from 2010 to 2020 (RNIB 2014). According to that model, RNIB ranks AMD as the leading vision impairment in UK with estimated 2,103,000 people with different levels of AMD. Catarct, Diabetic Retinopathy and Galucoma follow as the cause in UK. With impairments like cataract which can be treated using the surgical methods, other impairments are greatly irreversible and can only be slowed down once established in an individual.
2.1.3 Virtual Reality Simulations As evident from various researches done prior to this study, virtual reality had enabled to provide a platform to simulate various real-time real life tasks, ranging from military to medical. By this research, it will be put on test to provide simulations for architectural 11
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spaces mimicking the viewing as the impaired vision. Vision simulations had been done using modified images and blacked out glasses, but real-time simulation had not been provided at a user level in the medical researches. This thesis project aims to achieve that in order to develop an interface for assisting architectural practices. SENSIVISE, a VR platform developed in an another study establish that the use of vision impairment over the VR platform helps in understanding the impairment itself by the normal sighted people (Boumenir et al. 2012).
2.2 Virtual Reality 2.2.1 Different types of headsets There are two most prominent kind of VR headset, one which includes everything as a product like Oculus Rift and another one which takes advantage of the smartphone’s capabilities like Vrase. Both Oculus Rift and Vrase use the same principle of using separate images for both eyes like in stereoscopic vision to create an illusion of real-time viewing with head trackers to track the position of user’s view. Despite almost homogeneous end result and basic concept, the approach followed by both the HMDs varies. In case of Oculus Rift, there is a whole set of processor, screen, lenses and head trackers to achieve it , while in Vrase an user can get the freedom to use their own smartphone to use as the processor and screen, leaving only the need for lenses and head trackers. While latter is much affordable and lightweight, its dependency on the newer smartphone is something which cannot be neglected. Oculus Rift on other hand is little bulkier and feature some extra wires due to attached control box with the device. Either of the HMDs provides support for Unity3D, a gaming software package to create content for VR interaction. The study will take into account both the kinds and proceed with the most optimum one to keep the interface affordable and in easy reach of others.
2.2.2 Google Cardboard – A Comparison With the introduction of google cardboard and talks on VR for android during google's annual I/O 2014 Tech Talk, there is continuous argument over the validity of these VR headsets and their comparison with the market leader Oculus Rift. In this section some of the aspects of both the product will be looked upon: 1. Price: On one hand where products such as Oculus Rift are costing a good amount of money, on the other hand, this google cardboard project is said to provide a similar experience in a strikingly negligible cost. Although, Oculus Rift deserve all credits in bringing down the cost of VR headset to this low and making it sleek and portable. 12
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2. Quality Of Display: Oculus developer version features, low resolution display which take away the sense of presence from the scene. The HD version of the same is being developed but yet to start shipping. On the contrary, google's cardboard project takes use of the mobile handsets which are already featuring HD display since few years now. This project lends the thingts from mobile handset to mimic a VR headset. Also, the mobile technology is developing at a faster pace than any other branch so it'd save the efforts to do R&D in developing a new display for devices like Oculus. 3. Ease Of Construction : While google's cardboard project require just few spares with a pre designed cardboard drawing to be used with the help of mobile handset, whereas, oculus rift require a serious setup to construct the product. 4. Mobility: Oculus restricts the mobility of the user in the VR environment due to wired connections. There is planning to launch a wireless version soon but google's cardboard project and other VR headsets such as Vrase are using the mobile engine to generate the same VR environments which are functional without any needed wires. The mobile headset can also provide a sound interface from itself, which Oculus is yet to touch. Although with the launch of wireless headphones it is not of much concern but still google's cardboard project takes use of the globally available technology. 5. Developing for VR: Oculus Rift is working parallel to Unity gaming engine to provide users a platform to develop applications that can simulate VR environment in the rift platform. This however requires some game designing or coding experience to develop interfaces. Same is true with google's cardboard project. Just that it will support widespread android platform and chrome platform to work with the product. On one hand Unity provides a dedicated interface to develop applications, on contrary, android and chrome platform are restricted to go beyond a certain level, but alternatively they provide an open source platform unlike Unity. 6. Tangibility: Google's cardboard project is meant to be an experiment to introduce the masses with the concept of virtual reality. It is more into creating the awareness of the idea without spending many resources. The product itself will display a short life span, unlike the Oculus Rift or other VR headsets. It is therefore safe to say that Oculus Rift is tangible and longer lasting VR headset amongst both.
Figure 3. Google Cardboard model 13
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3.0 Visual Impairment Simulations 3.1 Unity3D 3.1.1 About Unity3D Unity is gaming software which is used widely for the creations of games for various platforms. It is compatible with the Oculus VR and provides an option to convert any game into Oculus Rift playable mode. For the architectural perspective, it allows importing files from various architecture software like, Revit, 3Ds Max, Google Sketchup, Rhino, etc. Unity also enables a user to develop real-time animations into the project, a feature which can be used in architectural projects to automate door and window openings and other such features.
Figure 4. An Architectural project on Unity3D
3.1.2 Initial Simulations on Unity3D The earlier simulations developed on Unity3D to represent vision impairments uses the concept of blackening out the defected areas of the vision, for instance, central area in case of macular degeneration and peripheral areas in case of tunnel vision. The results were strikingly similar to what had been conventionally perceived in the imagery and schematics. These were achieved by using a planar object or by using “GUI layer� feature of Unity3D in 14
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front of camera to obstruct the light for the desired areas. The simulation thus achieved provided a rich insight into the problem which the research was dealing with.
Figure 5. Macular Degeneration Simulation
3.1.3 Problem with blind spots The initial simulations provided with a highly apt simulation of the vision disorders as portrayed in various studies but it is not how they generally perceive imagery. Instead, in a vision disorder, the missing information from the defected areas of the eye is filled up by brain using the information from the nearby scene and hence resulting into a distorted image but not a blind spot. Depending on the severity of the impairment this distorting will vary from person to person and from impairment to impairment.
Figure 6. Various stages of real-time macular degeneration
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3.1.4 Using Refraction for real-time simulations The initial simulations provided with a highly apt simulation of the vision disorders as portrayed in various studies but according to the latest thoughts it is not how imagery is perceived by a visually impaired as discussed in the last section. To achieve a more realistic looking simulation, these black spots must be evolved into areas which can transmit the information from the adjacent areas to give a sense of distortion. To achieve this, refraction shaders were used in the Unity3D software over a sphere, which in turn modulated the imagery and mimicked the realistic visual impairment. The result is more dynamic in nature, unlike the previous attempt which was broadly the use of still images to block the light. The refractive property of the sphere helps to create an illusion of how brain might perceive visual impairment by filling up the missing information. Irregular surface of the sphere helps to make it more realistic. The blurriness of the sphere helps to reduce the vision to that area considerably and hence helping to simulate the effect of impairments and help people to realize what all information a visual impaired person misses out.
Figure 7. Macular degeneration Simulation
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Figure 8. Tunnel Vision Simulation
Figure 9. Diabetic Retinopathy Simulation
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Figure 10. Cataract Simulation
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4.0 Physical Simulation & Android Platform 4.1 Physical Simulation The conventional technique of using physical glasses to simulate vision simulators is widespread in many medical researches. To test the VR simulations, there was a need of testing it against the conventional platform. The technique of creating various vision disorders is documented below: 1. Macular Degeneration: It is the Central field loss which restricts a patient's ability to see clearly on the central fields of their vision. It results into distorted central images with wavy lines. To simulate it with the help of these welding goggles, firstly, an user's centre of vision is located on the goggles by making them looking straight to it. Then mark that point with a clear nail polish, the thickness of the dot can varies from the amount of degeneration one wishes to simulate. After putting a thick dot, leave the polish to dry to the point where it's little sticky, at that time dab it with tissue to generate a randomness in the user's vision and also make the area little opaque to the light. The more it is done, the severe macular degeneration it will be simulated.
Figure 11. Macular degeneration Simulation
2. Retinitis Pigmentosa : This impairment creates a tunnel vision for a patient whose eyes are not able to intercept peripheral imagery. In such case the peripheral vision is blurred, distorted and wrongly perceived by the brain. To create a relative simulation, use the same technique of using 19
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clear nail polish over the goggles, but this time other way round, i.e. leaving some space in the centre and working on peripheral vision. The same can be made obsolete by using the thick cardboard piece by fitting it in the goggles and then extracting out a chunk of material from the centre to allow for central vision. It should be made sure that the opening left is not too small otherwise it'll result in the pinhole effect, making the central imagery more clear and detailed image.
Figure 12. Tunnel Vision Simulation
3. Cataract: The cataract is hardening/clouding of the lens inside the eyes. It is one of the most common vision defects in ageing. The same can be simulated in the manner of the above simulations by applying clear nail paint and dabbing it achieves a translucent image from the view. The dabbing can be uneven to make some part clearer and some more opaque to showcase a natural process of hardening of an eye lens.
4.2 Simulation Using Android Platform Google cardboard allows us to execute files from Unity3D after converting them to compatible format for android smartphones (For more on this refer to Page 18, Unity3D to Android, on the wiki). The android platform proves to be an affordable option due to its easy availability and ease to use as compared to other VR headsets which are somewhat expensive. Any good android phone, which basic features like a decent processor, an accelerometer and a decent sized screen will provide exceptional good results for the VR environment. 20
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An android platform allows the simulation to be executed on the virtual headset without any major setup and construction cost unlike other VR headsets. This platform is easily fixable with Google cardboard and provides a strikingly similar output. Most importantly the platform is open source, which implies that anyone can develop for the platform unlike other platforms which requires a fee to do so. This makes the overall interface an extremely low cost and easily affordable one to be used for studies.
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5.0 Survey 5.1 Setup Developing VR simulations on VR platform need to be tested alongside with the conventional methods of using physical glasses as talked about in the earlier sections. With the development of Cardboard version of VR headset and also an Oculus Rift at our disposal, a comparison experiment can be conducted to test both the methods against each other to check validity of the proposed method against the widely accepted old one. It'll also help to compare the same for accuracy, experience, presence and other things. Steps To Set Up The Experiment:
Select a physical location where the study can be practiced.
Recreate the same location over the virtual environment, using most of the details from the scene to mimic the reality. More realistic the scene it the better experience a user will have.
Prepare physical goggles for vision impairments like AMD, tunnel vision and cataract.
Simulate the same vision impairments over the VR environment.
Figure 13. Virtual reality scene of the selected MA room
Process (require volunteers) :
Make a set of activities to be carried out in the location where study is to be conducted. It might include things like, switching a power switch, reading a date from the calendar, reading an eye chart, etc.
Ask the volunteer to perform these sets of activities in the physical location with physical glasses.
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Ask the volunteer to perform the same sets of activities in the 3D location with oculus rift/ cardboard VR headset.
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Get the experiences of both evaluated in some manner to compare the two techniques and showcase which one gave better insight into the impairment.
Findings Expected: The findings of the experiment will aim at providing the need for better simulating methods for vision impairments, especially for architects who can check their unbuilt spaces for any discrepancies. It should also prove the argument that VR environment provides a better experience than using physically simulated goggles and better quality of simulated impairments.
5.2 Discussion
Figure 14. A participant taking the survey using Google Cardboard
Figure 15. A participant taking the survey using physical glasses
The survey helps in establishing the differences and similarity between the two sets of techniques used for the simulations and on the same hand it helps to provide feedbacks on the tangibility of the virtual reality platform for simulating vision impairments. Even with a small size of 10 people, it establish some great understanding of the topic 23
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Figure 16. Task one, Face recognising
Figure 17. Task two, eye chart reading
Figure 18. Task three, campus map reading
In the first part of the survey, aimed at comparing the physical and virtual platform, the graphs were somewhat similar for both the virtual and physical simulations. The most optimum result would have 24
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been to achieve exactly equal graph for both but with a considerable smaller participants, a little variation is acceptable. Although what is more striking is that , overall participants found these tests difficult as compared to their normal vision making them understand the condition of a visually impaired person and what all hardship they have to undergo in their day to day life. In the second part of the survey, the study aimed at understanding the acceptance of new virtual reality method over the conventional glasses. In this part questions were shaped in order to get the verdict if VR technology can be used in place of conventional methods and still provide the same or better results of the impairments.
Figure 19. Clarity of the executions
Figure 20. VR experience, very bad to excellent
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Figure 21. Degree of presence, low to high
Once the results were gathered, it was surprising to see that most of the participants choose VR headset over the conventional glasses, which can be greatly because of its interactive nature and ease to use. The degree of presence felt by the participants was incredibly high in the VR platform and they felt immersive reality into the scene. The tasks executed in the VR were just like the real life conditions and with ease to perform (ignoring simulations). The participants rank VR method considerably higher as compared to the practical glasses as evident from figure 16.
5.3 Limitations The survey involves ten participants which is a quite smaller participant group. The participants should be increase in order to establish a better understanding of the subject. Also, as stated previously vision impairments varies from person to person and from impairment to impairment, it also changes from time to time. Hence what the experiment portrays is just a generalised simulation and must not be considered as any specific scenario of any simulation. The android simulation used in the survey is in developing phase and hence the results thus obtained are safe to be used for the study purposes but should not be taken as the guaranteed results. Finally, the participant group which volunteered for the survey consists mainly of university students, that restricts the data to a particular age group to some extent and hence, more vivid participant group in the future will allow the study to be more acceptable in terms of results and feedbacks. It had been a note that people taking the survey are not visually disabled and their critique might vary from the ones who are visually disabled. To eliminate that argument, the VR can be used as an interface without any simulations, to be used by visually impaired people. This might enable the study to have an understanding of the problem from two perspective and at the same time it’ll allow to compare the both. 26
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6.0 Conclusion This research study provides a great insight into the vision impairments and demand users to think about the very few provisions provided for visually impaired people in the built environment. It also demonstrates the difficulties faced and experienced by the population living with visual impairments and their treatment in the society as the outcast. This research suggests that all vision impairments deserve a better place in the society. The study also enables the Architects to think for the basic requirements of different disabilities in the society and come out from the hypocrite practice of using wheelchair data to design for all disability groups. The interface developed in the study can provide a platform to the Architects to justify their designs and master plans for different vision impairments by experiencing what an impaired person will witness in the built environment. This will allow the Architects to make changes, and evolve their designs to the optimum levels before the execution process starts and hence saving time, money and efforts. The research conducted in the thesis allows integrating different fraction of education into a single project, for instance taking the use of gaming software and entertainment oriented products like Oculus Rift to develop a platform for vision simulations. Also, taking the leads from various medical researches to develop conventional glasses, which forms a base for developing different simulations and also provided a platform to test the newly developed product against the conventional and the widely acceptable one.
6.1 Further Study Following a great lead from this research project there lays a great possibility of in depth research work in this area, free of time constraint and ample resources. While on one hand, the study genuinely provided a great understanding of the topic and also developed an interface which is up and running, yet there is much which is still need to achieve in terms of simulations, developing optimum viewing imagery for the impairments modulating, colour, contrast and brightness. The study can provide a base for other further work in this field and also prove to be a benchmark which designs must undergo in order to create a built environment to be used by the visually impaired people. There had been done some parallel works during the research to touch upon some different aspects in architecture achievable by working with VR environments such as using BIM (building information modelling) and AR (augmented reality). These will be discussed shortly in the next headings. Overall, VR provides a platform which has the potential to club with
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other ongoing developments in the field of architecture or construction and change the conventional way of working to get a better and more efficient output. Modulating different aspects of a scene like colour, contrast and brightness, can assist an impaired user to have an optimum viewing of the environment. A research project titled “Project Rainbow” took into account all these criteria to develop an optimum viewing. Although, as per the conclusions, it was not 100% plausible to have same environment optimum for a vivid range of population, fully sighted to blinds, yet it exhibits some commitments to improve the living of people with vision impairments (Bright, Cook, and Harris 2004).
6.2 BIM with VR In a parallel study done during this timeframe, some works were done on BIM platform with the VR technology. Since the possibility of storing building information as an asset with BIM, it grants the potential to interact with them in various modus operandi at any stage of the project’s lifecycle. Within the VR platform the BIM can be used to simulate various aspects ranging from architecture to construction. Success had been already achieved in using BIM with VR for core construction industries like steel manufacturers to simulate and test various aspects of the products prior to their production. VR simulation had been implemented to provide a real-time identification of the steel construction components using ‘radio frequency identification’ attached with each element. In this particular case BIM is used to transfer all the information on the digital platform and then VR is used as a medium to simulate it for various construction aspects (Xie, Shi, and Issa 2011, 291-308). Transferring the same practice to architectural projects would require a substantial amount of customization with each project but the ploy remains the same. For construction aspects of the building construction, VR can be used alongside BIM to streamline the working and by the engineers to simulate the construction for any possible errors. Architectural aspects of a building design can be greatly influenced by using VR with BIM, leading to experience the real-time monitoring of spaces and their usage and experience the complete building envelop instead of contemporary practices of using images and animations. Information regarding other services such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC can also be transferred to BIM platform and experienced and manipulated using VR environment. As a minuscule project Unity3D was used to transfer a BIM model over the VR platform and then manipulated inside the VR to showcase different aspects of the building like structure, glazing, furniture and cladding.
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Figure 22. Structure details turned on
Figure 23. Exterior walls turned on
Figure 24. Glazing turned on
Figure 25. Room’s furniture turned on
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The users were free to use defined keyboard keys to turn on/off the various pre-set building elements, hence providing them with the feasibility to experience the building in number of ways. Using VR it also became viable to navigate within the built environment and interact with provided building information. Employing colliders to the building data helped in achieving the practical condition of not passing through the virtual walls, which was the case in earlier virtual models. Animation physics can also be used in the projects to give a sense of real world interaction like opening of door or window by pressing a key or simply by going near the element. VR will play a major role in the design, management and operation of the Built Environment embracing the “Cradle to Grave� concept. VR will be linked to other applications with a natural interface. Following the advancement in the mobile technology, all the buildings constructed will be intelligent and will utilise VR technology. Eventually, the Construction Industry will follow the route of manufacturing and aerospace industries where VR modelling and simulation technology is used extensively (Dawood 2009).
VR is in naive stage of development for architecture and construction industry, although it had shown a tremendous potential to provide a feasible solution to many of the issues. It is also evolving itself from mere entertainment medium to the platform of replicating the reality and helping to take sensible decisions towards intelligent designing. In near future, VR will be used at more than one aspect of the construction of a built environment due to its ease to use nature and sustainability aspect by saving time and energy.
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6.3 VR with Augmented Reality Augmented reality or AR is when real-time scene is rendered with some virtual elements in the frame. It acquires a space between reality and virtual reality, having elements from the both. The idea of using AR with VR will allow looking into the real world using a few components from the VR world, hence, saving the time and hassle to develop a whole together a new virtual world as done in this study. For instance, a mobile phone’s camera can provide a real time imagery of the real space, and hence eliminating the need to recreate it in the VR environment. Now, the simulations can be developed as an application which could be applied to the real scene as a filter and hence allowing a user to witness the visual impairments but with more realistic environment and interactive to the highest degree. The sense of presence in such scenario will be the most as it’s the real world which the user is witnessing and hence mimicking the vision impairments to a great level. “AR might aid general visualisation tasks as well: An architect with a see-through HMD might be able to look out a window and see how a proposed new sky-scraper would change her view” (Azuma 1997, 355-385). Future versions of augmented reality instructional systems may guide construction workers through the assembly of actual buildings and help to improve the quality of their work. Inspectors with augmented reality interfaces may be similarly guided through their jobsallowing them to work without reference to conventional printed construction drawings and ensuring that every item which needs to be checked is in fact inspected(Webster et al. 1996, 913-919).
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Appendix 1. The Questionnaire The following surveys were taken during the experiment. In the first survey the VR technology and conventional glasses are compared to the naked eyes while in the second part, both of them are compared to each other. IN the second survey, some other aspects of the VR simulation is touched upon like the clarity of the image and the sense of presence within the scene. Survey 1.
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Survey 2.
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Appendix 2. The Results The data collected from the survey had been documented in the report. It had been classed by each participant, i.e. both the surveys clubbed together to get a clear picture from each participant.
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Participant 1.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesVery Hard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationHard
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
Yes
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Near Sightedness
Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Easy
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Easy
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Very Easy
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Excellent
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Excellent
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Respondent skipped this question
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Participant 2.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationEasy
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Easy
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
Yes
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Near Sightedness
Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Easy
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Satisfactory
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Good
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Good
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Participant 3.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesVery Hard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
Yes
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Far Sightedness
Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Excellent
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Excellent
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Excellent
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Participant 4.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationHard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationHard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationHard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
No
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Other (please specify)no defects
Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Easy
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Good
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Good
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Respondent skipped this question
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Participant 5.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesVery Easy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
No
Q3: If yes, select from the following : Respondent skipped this question Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Very Easy
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Good
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Good
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Good technology for Architecture, would be great to see the further research.
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
Participant 6.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesVery Hard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesVery Hard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
Yes
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Near Sightedness
Astigmatism
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Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Good
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Good
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Lag on VR was a noticeable
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Participant 7.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationHard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationVery Easy
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesVery Hard
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationVery Easy
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Female
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
No
Q3: If yes, select from the following : Respondent skipped this question Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Very Easy
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Very Easy
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Easy
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Excellent
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Excellent
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Respondent skipped this question
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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Participant 8.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationEasy
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationHard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesEasy
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
No
Q3: If yes, select from the following : Respondent skipped this question Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Very Easy
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Satisfactory
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Satisfactory
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Good, still needs experiments .
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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Participant 9.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationEasy
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationHard
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationEasy
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationHard
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationEasy
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationHard
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Female
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
No
Q3: If yes, select from the following : Respondent skipped this question Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Using Virtual Reality TO Alleviate Vision Impairments
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No
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Fair
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Satisfactory
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Respondent skipped this question
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Participant 10.
Survey 1. Q1: Rate the face recognising task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesModerate
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationModerate
Q2: Rate the eye chart reading task.
With Macular GogglesHard
With VR Macular SimulationModerate
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationHard
Q3: Rate the campus map reading task.
With Macular GogglesModerate
With VR Macular SimulationVery Hard
With Tunnel Vision GogglesHard
With VR Tunnel Vision SimulationVery Hard
Survey 2. Q1: What is your gender?
Male
Q2: Do you have any vision disorders(including near sightedness or far sightedness) ?
Yes
Q3: If yes, select from the following :
Near Sightedness
Q4: Tasks executed in the VR experiement were clear to see(simulation not to be considered) ?
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Yes
Q5: Rank the experience of campus map reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Hard
Q6: Rank the experience of size chart reading through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q7: Rank the experience of face recognising through VR as compared to practical experience.
(no label)Moderate
Q8: Rank the overall VR experience as compared to the practical experience.
(no label)Good
Q9: Rank the degree of 'presence' you felt in the VR scene.
(no label)Excellent
Q10: Comments,Feedbacks,Suggestions Potential, still long way to go
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References Azuma, Ronald T. 1997. "A Survey of Augmented Reality." Presence 6 (4): 355-385. Boumenir, Y., A. Kadri, N. Suire, C. Mury, and E. Klinger. 2012. "When Sighted People are in the Skin of Visually Impaired Ones: Perception and Actions in Virtual Reality Situation.". Bright, Keith, Geoff Cook, and John Harris. 2004. Colour, Contrast & Perception: A Design Guidance for Internal Built Environments Research Group for Inclusive Environments. Clarkson, John. 2003. Inclusive Design: Design for the Whole Population Springer. Dawood, NN. 2009. "VR-Roadmap: A Vision for 2030 in the Built Environment." . Imrie, Rob and Peter Hall. 2003. Inclusive Design: Designing and Developing Accessible Environments Taylor & Francis. Lewis, J., L. Shires, and DJ Brown. 2012. "Development of a Visual Impairment Simulator using the Microsoft XNA Framework.". NHS. "Visual Impairment.", accessed June, 2014, http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Visualimpairment/Pages/Introduction.aspx. RNIB. "Eye Health Data Summary.", accessed August, 2014, http://www.rnib.org.uk/sites/default/files/Eye_health_data_summary_report_2014.pdf. Webster, Anthony, Steven Feiner, Blair MacIntyre, William Massie, and Theodore Krueger. 1996. "Augmented Reality in Architectural Construction, Inspection and Renovation.". WHO. "GLOBAL DATA ON VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS2010.", accessed July, 2014, http://www.who.int/blindness/GLOBALDATAFINALforweb.pdf?ua=1. ———. "Visual Impairment and Blindness.", accessed July, 2014, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/. Xie, Haiyan, Wei Shi, and Raja RA Issa. 2011. "Using Rfid and Real-Time Virtual Reality Simulation for Optimization in Steel Construction." Journal of Information Technology in Construction 16: 291308.
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Bibliography Alaboud, Naif, John P. Cooney, and Aziz Zeeshan. "USING A MOBILE BIM BASED FRAMEWOR TO ENHANCE INFORMATION PROVISIONING SUPPORT IN HEALTHCARE PROJECTS." BIM Management and Interoperability. Bollinger, Elizabeth. 1993. "Technology of the Future Or Playground of the Cyberpunk?" .
Cook, G., Yohannes, I., Le Scoullier, S., Booy, D., O’neill, L. “Lighting the homes of people who are visually impaired”. Paper presented at International Congress Series, Vol. 1282, September 2005: 1103-1007. Dawood, NN. 2009. "VR-Roadmap: A Vision for 2030 in the Built Environment." .
Henson, David B. Visual fields. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000; 2nd ed. Izkara, José Luis, Juan Pérez, Xabier Basogain, and Diego Borro. 2007. "Mobile Augmented Reality, an Advanced Tool for the Construction Sector."Citeseer, . Thomas, Bruce, Wayne Piekarski, and Bernard Gunther. 1999. "Using Augmented Reality to Visualise Architecture Designs in an Outdoor Environment." International Journal of Design Computing: Special Issue on Design Computing on the Net (Dcnet'99) 2. Woodward, Charles, M. Hakkarainen, O. Korkalo, T. Kantonen, M. Aittala, K. Rainio, and K. Kähkönen. 2010. "Mixed Reality for Mobile Construction Site Visualization and Communication.". Xie, Haiyan, Wei Shi, and Raja RA Issa. 2011. "Using Rfid and Real-Time Virtual Reality Simulation for Optimization in Steel Construction." Journal of Information Technology in Construction 16: 291-308.
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Image Credits Note: All images and diagrams authors own unless cited below.
Figure 1: Oculus Rift Headset Image sourced from: http://www.oculusvr.com/ Figure 2: Vrase Headset, (using mobile platform) Image sourced from: http://www.vrase.com/ Figure 6: Various stages of real-time macular degeneration Image sourced from: http://www.acbvi.org/albums/Vision/index.html
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