Hearing the Bullseye: An Auditory-Cued Archery Exergame for the Visually Impaired and Their Sighted Family and Friends

How can blind and sighted individuals play together? The natural disparity in visual abilities often poses challenges for fair competition in social play. This can diminish the confidence of visually impaired (VI) individuals and reduce engagement for sighted players. While previous literature has incorporated fairness design strategies for the VI, we additionally aim to address the potential problem of boredom for sighted players by providing enhanced visual feedback without compromising fairness as a novel design strategy. We present "Hearing the Bullseye", an archery exergame designed for harmonious play between VI individuals and their sighted family and friends. Players use a bow equipped with an infrared sensor, allowing them to target an unseen bullseye using sound rather than sight. An empirical study involving 18 sighted and VI participants demonstrated that the design strategies used in "Hearing the Bullseye" effectively promote social engagement among both groups while ensuring fair competition.