Audio-Only Orientation Game in Urdu for Blind and Low-Vision Children

The problem: almost no games made for blind children in Urdu

Blind and low-vision children learn orientation and mobility skills: working out where a sound comes from, building a mental map of a room, remembering a route, noticing an obstacle by its echo or by the change in sound. Specialist teachers and therapists teach these skills, but practice time with a specialist is limited, and many families outside large cities live far from one.

Games could add hours of enjoyable practice. Yet almost every mobile game assumes the player can see the screen. The best-known audio games are built for teenagers and adults and set in fantasy worlds, rather than the kitchens, corridors and streets a child needs to navigate.

What already exists and the gap

• A Blind Legend, developed by Dowino and released in 2015 on iOS and later on Android and Windows, is an audio-only adventure game that uses binaural sound so players can locate enemies and paths with headphones. It shows that audio-only games can be good games.
• Screen readers such as TalkBack make standard apps usable, but they do not make visual games playable.
• Orientation and mobility training happens in person with teachers, using real spaces.

The gap is a short, child-friendly audio game in Urdu, set in everyday places and designed with a special education teacher, that gives children extra practice and gives the teacher a record of how they are doing.

Inspiration

"Virtual Environment Interaction Through 3D Audio by Blind Children" (Sánchez and Lumbreras, CyberPsychology and Behavior, 1999) studied AudioDoom, an early game played through 3D sound, and found that blind children could build mental maps of a virtual space from audio alone. Modern phones and free spatial audio libraries make that idea easy to deliver today. Your project applies it to everyday places and Urdu speech, and measures how children actually play.

What you build

• Children put on headphones, hear a short Urdu introduction and start exploring: find the ringing phone in the bedroom, walk down the school corridor to the classroom with the teacher's voice, cross the market street when the traffic sound clears.
• Teachers pick levels and difficulty for each child and review simple play logs.
• Parents install the game from a single APK and help their child start.

The technically interesting part

This is a beginner project, but audio-only design is a real challenge:

• Spatial audio that works. Use a spatial audio plugin with head-related transfer functions, so sounds in front, behind, left and right are clearly different in headphones. Test which sounds are easiest to locate, because some frequencies localise better than others.
• Interfaces without a screen. Every menu, setting and message must work through speech, sound and vibration. Design simple gestures (swipe, tap, double tap, tilt) and test them with TalkBack both on and off, since screen readers change how touch works.
• Feedback that teaches. Footstep sounds, gentle collision sounds and voice hints should help children correct their path without frustration.
• Level design. Start with one sound source in a quiet room and build up to several sources and background noise, like a real street.
• Respectful testing. Work through a school or teacher, get consent from parents, keep sessions short, and treat children's feedback as the main source of truth.

How to evaluate it

• Task success: share of levels completed and time per level, across sessions, for each child.
• Localisation accuracy: in a test level, how close children get to a sound source on the first try.
• Teacher feedback: does the teacher think the game practises useful skills, and which levels help most?
• Enjoyment: whether children ask to play again, and their own words about the game.

Suggested plan

• Weeks 1 to 2: play A Blind Legend, read the AudioDoom paper, meet a special education teacher.
• Weeks 3 to 6: spatial audio prototype, movement and controls without visuals.
• Weeks 7 to 9: three environments, Urdu voice-over and teacher mode.
• Weeks 10 to 12: play logs, testing with blindfolded sighted volunteers first to fix obvious problems.
• Weeks 13 to 15: sessions with children and their teacher, write-up and demo.

Path to a product

Special education schools, NGOs working with visually impaired children and inclusive education programmes need tools like this, and grant funding for assistive technology is available. A free game with a paid level builder for schools is a realistic path. The project is also a memorable portfolio piece that shows game design, audio programming and real user research.

Scope warning

The game supports teachers; it does not replace orientation and mobility training, and it must never ask children to practise unsafe real-world actions like crossing a road alone. Keep the first version to three environments. Testing with children requires a teacher, parental consent and, ideally, your university's ethics approval.

Learn what you need on Sefism

• Game development roadmap: game loops, levels and playtesting.
• Game development cheat sheet: quick reference while building.
• Unity Manual and Scripting API: audio sources, spatialisers and Android builds.
• Godot Engine Documentation: if you prefer Godot's 3D audio nodes.
• Learn Accessibility: accessibility principles that also apply to games.
• UI/UX design roadmap: user research and testing with the people you build for.

Get help with this idea

The risk is a game designed by sighted students for sighted players with the screen turned off. Tauseef can help you plan the work with a special education teacher, design the first levels and structure the testing. If you are new here, create a free account first.

• Discuss this idea with a mentor
• Send a query to Tauseef
• Book a 1:1 session