TRAINING EFFECT OF A VIRTUAL AUDITORY GAME ON SOUND LOCALIZATION ABILITY OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

It is essential for a visually impaired person to correctly iden- tify the position of a sound source because such identification en- ables him/her to recognize his/her surroundings, including obsta- cles. We developed training equipment to help the visually im- paired to improve their ability to identify the position of a sound source by applying a auditory display technique. Training for ten days with the system was conducted. As a result, the ability to identify a sound source position was improved.