Empathic Experiences of Visual Conditions with Virtual Reality

When it comes to conditions related to vision, it can be challenging to foster empathy in designers toward affected users. However, utilizing Virtual Reality (VR) in an empathic design approach can help overcome these challenges and bridge the existing gaps. Previous research indicates that VR storytelling can be used to examine empathy; however, there is limited information regarding the application of this technique to color vision deficiency (CVD). In this study, we investigate whether a narrative and a game that simulates scenes as observed by individuals with CVD can induce cognitive and affective empathy. Moreover, we examine how this experience relates to performance and how it may contribute to identifying CVD-related issues. The participants were exposed to a normal vision condition and then a CVD condition while performing a color-based sorting task in a dedicated environment. The results indicate that neither cognitive nor affective empathy changed significantly before and after the experience. However, additional CVD-related problems were identified by the participants. Elaborating on this approach would give a greater insight into how to elicit empathic feelings by clarifying how a person with special needs, particularly CVD, experiences the world and how to design and improve such experiences.