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Virtual environments (VEs) that represent real spaces (RSs) give people who are blind the opportunity to build a cognitive map in advance that they will be able to use when arriving at the RS. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this research study Nintendo Wii-based technology was used for exploring VEs via the Wiici application. The Wiimote allows the user to interact with VEs by simulating walking and scanning the space.

By getting haptic and auditory feedback the user learned to explore new spaces. The authors examined the participants’ abilities to explore new simple and complex places, construct a cognitive map, and perform orientation tasks in the RS.

To the authors’ knowledge, this finding presents the first VE for people who are blind that allow the participants to scan the environment and by this to construct map model spatial representations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the past 15 years of research and development (R&D) on the role of virtual environments (VEs) as an orientation and mobility (O&M) aid to enhance skills and to train people who are blind or newly blind.

This paper describes and examines studies of 21 VE systems developed specifically to help people who are blind improve their O&M skills. These VE systems, equipped to supply appropriate perceptual and conceptual spatial information through haptic and auditory sensorial channels, are mainly focussed on two goals: helping congenitally blind or late blind persons to collect spatial information in advance and supporting people who are newly blind in practicing their O&M skills during rehabilitation. The R&D studies represented in these 21 studies were examined along three dimensions: descriptive information, system, and research.

This paper highlights weaknesses and strengths of VE systems that have been developed in the past 15 years as O&M aids for people who are blind. These results have the potential to influence future R&D in this field.

The author hopes that this paper will influence future R&D in this field and lead to accessible O&M VEs in practice and research.