Inside the boundaries of the physical world: audio-haptic feedback as support for the navigation in virtual environments

One of the main issues in creating virtual environments in a laboratory setting where users can navigate is the fact that laboratories have a limited physical space. One way of compensate this issue has been to redirect users to perform specific paths, keeping for example the illusion of walking straight while indeed subjects were walking in circles. In this paper we investigate whether audio-haptic feedback and haptic feedback alone help in directing users to walk away from the boundaries of a physical space while experimenting with a simulated virtual environment. Specifically, haptic feedback was provided at feet level by using a pair of shoes enhanced with actuators, and auditory feedback of different footsteps was also provided interactively. Results show that it is possible to use auditory and haptic feedback to provide users with navigational cues in virtual environments. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.