The use of haptic virtual environments by blind people

This paper describes two studies concerning the use of haptic virtual environments for blind people. The studies investigated the perception of virtual textures and the perception of the size and angles of virtual objects. In both studies, differences in perception by blind and sighted people were also explored. The results have implications for the future design of VEs in that it cannot be assumed that virtual textures and objects will feel to users, whether blind or sighted, as the designer intends.