When : 20 January 2020, 10:30 am
Where : Inria Sophia Antipolis – Méditerranée, room Byron beige
Speaker : Dr. Lauren Thévin (LMU Munich, Germany)
Title : Mixed reality for people with visual impairments, with people with visual impairments (and their relatives)
Abstract : In this presentation, I will discuss about augmented and virtual reality inclusive for people with and without visual impairment. From a theoretical point of view, we will see how virtual and augmented reality can exist and being usable without vision. We first illustrate these concepts with an augmented reality project to foster accessibility of graphics to people with visual impairments. Interactivity (audio feedback consistent with touch detection) enables to add audio captions to existing tactile graphics, and overcomes current limitations: not requiring room to associate captions, making interactive any existing graphics or associating captions to entire zones. The participatory approach highlights the users’ needs during all the life of the prototype: how users can create new interactive content, and what kind of content do they need? The second project illustrates the building of a virtual reality street simulator for people with visual impairments, to support mobility learning. This street simulator was used during real classes of Orientation & Mobility, where the instructors teach how to navigate with visual impairments. Interaction supports trials and errors learning, in controlled environments. The participatory design influenced highly the final prototype. The result is a smartphone app, easily usable by teachers and students, where the audio low fidelity was validated by people with visual impairments.
Bio: Lauren Thévin is a post-doctoral researcher at LMU Munich with a multi-disciplinary profile oriented on the human-machine collaboration : bachelor in applied mathematics and social sciences, cognitive engineer and PhD in computer sciences (human collaboration training in crisis management such as flood). She worked in the automotive industry as an ergonomics consultant, and conducted postdoctoral research at Inria Bordeaux (Potioc Team) and at IRIT Toulouse (Elipse Team) about mixed reality for people with visual impairments. She continues her research on inclusive virtual reality with and without visual impairments.
