The VR4VIP Project

Virtual Reality For Visually Impaired People

The main objective of this ERASMUS+ project is to collect and exchange information concerning Virtual Reality (abbreviated: VR) and Augmented Reality (abbreviation: AR) in context of education and training of people with visual impairments. The increasing use of VR and AR systems in education and vocational training, will become an important factor in the process of digitisation. It is therefore essential, that this technology quickly finds its way into the education and vocational training of visually impaired people, to avoid any disadvantages for this group.

Especially the integration into the labour market is difficult for visually impaired people. It is therefore imperative that this target group will be introduced to the new digital technology in order to be competitive on the labour market. However, in order to educate and train the target group adequately, the educational staff must be qualified accordingly.

In the context of vocational training and education of people with visual impairments, VR and AR systems are not in the focus yet. The VR4VIP project aims to change this situation by exploring suggestions for the meaningful and effective use of these technologies in the education of visually impaired people. Existing systems and solutions as well as best practice examples will be investigated. At the end of the project, all partners evaluate a further cooperation according possible implementation strategies of VR in the education of visually impaired people.

Why VR for people with visual impairment? 

At first glance, the use of a visual system such as VR for people with a visual impairment  seems paradoxical. However, on a closer look, VR systems offer some advantages for this target group:

1. The visual distance between the eyes and the display is small and thus enables visual perception even with severely reduced visual acuity.
2. The field of vision that can be displayed on commercially available systems is between 100 and 110° and thus offers a usable display range even in the case of failures in the central or peripheral field of vision.
3. By virtually zooming in and out on objects, they can be enlarged and reduced according to individual needs.
4. Interferences from scattered light, reflections and glare are avoided by the design of the devices.

These factors indicate that VR systems can be used for education and the vocational training of people with visual impairments. Here it is of particular interest to use the technical capabilities of these systems as assistive, diagnostic and training device.

For more information, please visit the VR4VIP Project.