Impact of simulated low vision on perception and action

Yasmine Boumenir (1) , Abdelmajid Kadri (1) , Nadège Suire (2) , Corinne Mury (2) , Evelyne Klinger (1)

1 LAMPA - Laboratoire Angevin de Mécanique, Procédés et InnovAtion
2 Institut des Hauts Thébaudière

Most of us do not know how a visually impaired person perceives and acts within the environment in everyday life. In this context, an experimental study was conducted using a virtual reality simulation in which sighted people were immersed in low vision situations: blurred vision, tunnel vision, and central scotoma. After a brief familiarization procedure with a virtual reality tool called “SENSIVISE”, which includes a virtual apartment, 24 adults had to explore two rooms through low vision simulation or full vision (as a control group) to identify their location, and then were instructed to find particular targets. Perception and actions performances were measured in terms of time needed to answer questions related to visual perception, and distances between the participants’ body and the screen. The results show that low vision simulation impairs perception among sighted people. It was expressed by a statistically significant effect of lower times needed to execute tasks compared to the control condition. Consequently, the sighted individuals realized how it is difficult to perceive and move when vision is limited.

Mots clés: simulation; virtual reality; behavioral assessment; Visual impairment; perception

Domaines: Sciences de l'information et de la communication

Yasmine Boumenir, Abdelmajid Kadri, Nadège Suire, Corinne Mury, Evelyne Klinger. Impact of simulated low vision on perception and action. International Journal of Child Health and Human Development (IJCHD), 2014, 7 (4), pp.441-450. ⟨hal-01169593⟩