Introduction

For my honours project, I created a prototype audio-based 3D navigation system, primarily for use within 3D virtual environments and a video game project implementing this. The project was implemented within the game engine Unreal Engine 4, using its blueprint system to allow me to work on all aspects of implementation alone, without needing extensive coding experience and with enhanced audio functionality and implementation provided by Audiokinetic’s Wwise Middleware system.

This game project was used to refine a sonification system, with user testing, to prove the concept as viable and showcase the capabilities of this system in a realistic 3D environment. The essential rationale behind developing such a system, is both in the hope that it may make for an enjoyable game mechanic, and additionally that such a system may provide visually impaired players a navigation system and method for interacting with a 1st person 3D world.  The project accomplished this by using a combination of sub-systems intended to deliver a variety of information about the players environment in an auditory manner.