Audio-based game for visually impaired children

Abstract

This thesis was made for the Bachelor Graduation Project (Electrical Engineering). The purpose of the project was to design an audio-based game for visually impaired children. In this thesis the gameplay and the graph- ical user interface are designed. We choose to make a simplified dungeon crawler in the programming language Python. We designed tutori- als and levels for the game. For the tutorials the methods interaural time difference and interaural intensity difference are used to simulate localised audio. For the levels more advanced audio simulation methods are used, but these are provided by two other groups of students. A graphical user interface is made for validation purposes and for parents and caretakers of the visually impaired children. The game is tested with visually impaired children and sighted students. The controls of the game were too complex for young children and the game was not completely accessible for the visually impaired. However, almost all test subjects were able to learn the mechanics of the game and complete levels on their own.