Headset Visual Impairment Simulation for Space Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Designing living spaces for individuals with age-related visual impairments is challenging due to a lack of appreciation for the effects of these impairments, leading to costly and time-consuming redesigns.
Innovation Solution
A headset system that simulates visual impairment by displaying a scene that changes based on the user's position and orientation, reducing field of vision, and altering saturation and contrast to mimic the visual experience of someone with age-related visual impairment, aiding designers and caregivers in understanding and improving space design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If designers attempt to understand visual impairment effects through direct experience or observation, then they may gain some appreciation, but this approach is insufficient and does not provide sufficient understanding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the visually impaired person's visual experience by rendering a virtual scene through a headset display. The system captures real-world scenes and processes them to simulate visual impairment characteristics, allowing the designer to experience a realistic approximation of how a visually impaired person perceives their environment without requiring actual visual impairment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system modifies scene parameters dynamically based on detected head position and orientation. The obscuration pattern changes as the user moves their head, simulating the restricted field of vision characteristic of visual impairment. This dynamic parameter adjustment creates an immersive experience that adapts to the user's movements, providing authentic understanding of spatial limitations.
2Productivity
If living spaces are designed without proper consideration of visual impairment effects, then design process is simpler and faster, but redesign is required which involves cost and delay
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables designers to experience visual impairment effects during the initial design phase rather than after completion. By wearing the headset and exploring virtual representations of proposed living spaces, designers can identify and correct accessibility issues before final construction, preventing costly redesigns and ensuring the space is appropriate for visually impaired users from the outset.
3Loss of information
If the headset displays a complete scene without obscuration, then the user has full visual information, but this does not simulate visual impairment; if the headset obscures the scene to simulate impairment, then visual impairment is simulated, but the user loses some visual information
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies obscuration selectively based on the user's head position and orientation. Rather than uniformly obscuring the entire scene, the system creates localized obscured regions that correspond to areas a visually impaired person would not be able to see from their current head orientation. This preserves visual information in visible areas while accurately simulating impairment in obscured areas, maintaining both simulation fidelity and useful visual context.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to apparatus for simulating visual impairment of a person 10. The apparatus for simulating visual impairment of a person 10 comprises a headset 14 and a position sensor 16. The headset 14 is worn by a user and displays a scene 20 to the user. The position sensor 16 senses the position of the headset. The headset 14 changes the scene 20 displayed to the user in dependence on an output from the position sensor 16. The headset 14 also changes an extent of obscuration of the scene 20 displayed to the user in dependence on an output from the position sensor 16.