Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Jung, Crescentia, Collins, Jazmin, Penuela, Ricardo E. Gonzalez, Segal, Jonathan Isaac, Won, Andrea Stevenson, Azenkot, Shiri
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Jung, Crescentia
Collins, Jazmin
Penuela, Ricardo E. Gonzalez
Segal, Jonathan Isaac
Won, Andrea Stevenson
Azenkot, Shiri
author_facet Jung, Crescentia
Collins, Jazmin
Penuela, Ricardo E. Gonzalez
Segal, Jonathan Isaac
Won, Andrea Stevenson
Azenkot, Shiri
contents Social VR has increased in popularity due to its affordances for rich, embodied, and nonverbal communication. However, nonverbal communication remains inaccessible for blind and low vision people in social VR. We designed accessible cues with audio and haptics to represent three nonverbal behaviors: eye contact, head shaking, and head nodding. We evaluated these cues in real-time conversation tasks where 16 blind and low vision participants conversed with two other users in VR. We found that the cues were effective in supporting conversations in VR. Participants had statistically significantly higher scores for accuracy and confidence in detecting attention during conversations with the cues than without. We also found that participants had a range of preferences and uses for the cues, such as learning social norms. We present design implications for handling additional cues in the future, such as the challenges of incorporating AI. Through this work, we take a step towards making interpersonal embodied interactions in VR fully accessible for blind and low vision people.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21652
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People
Jung, Crescentia
Collins, Jazmin
Penuela, Ricardo E. Gonzalez
Segal, Jonathan Isaac
Won, Andrea Stevenson
Azenkot, Shiri
Human-Computer Interaction
Social VR has increased in popularity due to its affordances for rich, embodied, and nonverbal communication. However, nonverbal communication remains inaccessible for blind and low vision people in social VR. We designed accessible cues with audio and haptics to represent three nonverbal behaviors: eye contact, head shaking, and head nodding. We evaluated these cues in real-time conversation tasks where 16 blind and low vision participants conversed with two other users in VR. We found that the cues were effective in supporting conversations in VR. Participants had statistically significantly higher scores for accuracy and confidence in detecting attention during conversations with the cues than without. We also found that participants had a range of preferences and uses for the cues, such as learning social norms. We present design implications for handling additional cues in the future, such as the challenges of incorporating AI. Through this work, we take a step towards making interpersonal embodied interactions in VR fully accessible for blind and low vision people.
title Accessible Nonverbal Cues to Support Conversations in VR for Blind and Low Vision People
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21652