Three audio-based games are being used to teach the blind how to navigate real-world buildings, within a 3-D environment, using sound cues.

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the University of Chile are using the PC games to help blind people – in particular, children – build “spatial cognitive map[s] of their surroundings”, according to Lofti B. Merabet of the Harvard Medical School.

The researchers hope that it will be used as a rehabilitation tool.

Meanwhile, other gaming options are available for the blind; ranging from visual games with an audio-based twist, such as Space Invaders, to classic text adventures like ‘Zork’ – with the text read out to them by a digital computer voice.

With there being approximately 314 million visually impaired people in the world, 45 million of who are blind, surely a great breakthrough could be made in the industry so that the blind can enjoy, and learn vital real-life skills, from video games? As audio experiences improve, here’s hoping so.

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