Wearing headphones, a blind study participant (right) plays the game while an investigator follows her progress.	In gamer mode, the player uses auditory cues to move around, locate hidden gems and avoid being caught by monsters.

A new “video” game—actually, an audio game—has been successful in teaching blind players navigation skills using only audio cues.

Lotfi B. Merabet, O.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., and Jaime Sanchez, Ph.D., of Harvard’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, led the research team that developed the Audio-based Environment Simulator. This virtual reality “soundscape” environment, with all the challenges of a video game, uses audio-based cues to teach blind users about the layout of a previously unfamiliar building.

Study participants weren’t aware of the software’s overall purpose. But, researchers say, they were able to acquire relevant information about the spatial layout and transfer those navigational skills to a large-scale, three-dimensional, real-world indoor navigation task.

Merabet LB, Connors EC, Halko MA, Sánchez J. Teaching the blind to find their way by playing video games. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44958. Epub 2012 Sep 19.