The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Teaching the Blind to Find Their Way by Playing Video Games
Open accessAbstract
Computer based video games are receiving great interest as a means to learn and acquire new skills. As a novel approach to teaching navigation skills in the blind, we have developed Audio-based Environment Simulator (AbES); a virtual reality environment set within the context of a video game metaphor. Despite the fact that participants were naïve to the overall purpose of the software, we found that early blind users were able to acquire relevant information regarding the spatial layout of a previously unfamiliar building using audio based cues alone. This was confirmed by a series of behavioral performance tests designed to assess the transfer of acquired spatial information to a large-scale, real-world indoor navigation task. Furthermore, learning the spatial layout through a goal directed gaming strategy allowed for the mental manipulation of spatial information as evidenced by enhanced navigation performance when compared to an explicit route learning strategy. We conclude that the immersive and highly interactive nature of the software greatly engages the blind user to actively explore the virtual environment. This in turn generates an accurate sense of a large-scale three-dimensional space and facilitates the learning and transfer of navigation skills to the physical world.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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- [24]Merabet L, Sánchez J (2009) Audio-based Navigation Using Virtual Environments: Combining Technology and Neuroscience. AER Journal: Research and Practice in Visual Impairment and Blindness 2: 128– 137.
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Reed, S. K. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197529003.003.0017
Diseño de audiojuegos: estado del arte y desarrollo de un prototipo
Gilberto, G., Bauza, C. G., Bermejo, F., & Tommasini, F. C. (2022) · AJEA · doi:10.33414/ajea.1041.2022
Action RPG Game Space Created by Listening: Spatial Exploration and Cognition without Vision
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Reed, S. K. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197529003.002.0005
Reed, S. K. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197529003.002.0007
Reed, S. K. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197529003.002.0003
Shukla, S., Pandey, B., Pandey, D. K., & Khamparia, A. (2024) · Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation/Advances in science, technology & innovation · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-63103-0_23
Adepoju, B., Yoo, S., & Nimon, K. (2026) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-3844-5.ch005
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Hu, J., Yu, Q., Zou, M., Ma, S., & Zhu, D. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1927485
Metadata
- Authors
- Merabet, L. B., Connors, E. C., Halko, M. A., & Sánchez, J.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- University of Chile (CL)
- Corresponding author
- Merabet, Lotfi B.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-09-19
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e44958
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3446956
- OpenAlex
- W1970629866
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 12.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Universidad de Chile (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Eye Institute (R01EY019924)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- blind users, video games, navigation skills, spatial learning, virtual reality, indoor navigation, spatial configuration, transfer of learning, goal-directed exploration, route learning
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Blindness, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Spatial Behavior, User-Computer Interface, Video Games, Young Adult
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