Towards understanding the differences of using 3D auditory feedback in virtual environments between people with and without visual impairments

The research objective was to exploration to determine any differences of using a generic Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) to simulate 3D auditory feedback in Virtual Environments (VEs) without visual feedback between people with and without Visual Impairments (VI). To investigate this, we designed and developed a usability study which included the two tasks of recognizing the positions and distinguishing the moving directions of 3D sound sources in a VE. We conducted this study with 20 participants using VI (7 males and 13 females), and 18 participants without VI (7 males and 11 females). The results indicated different experiences in the VE between people with VI and without VI.