Virtual Reality Simulator for Sonification Studies

Virtual Reality Simulator for Sonification Studies, or VRS3, is a virtual reality simulator for blind or visually impaired people. It makes an auditory representation of the virtual environment, using the hearing as the main input channel. The simulator has these main purposes: validation of sonification techniques, 3d sensor emulation for environment recognition and hardware integration, training, and acoustic perception experiments. The interaction with the simulator is made by a 3d tracking system to locate user's head orientation and position, so the user just "walks through" the environment, and at the same time, the user perceives the environment through acoustic information.