Cerebral Visual Impairment Virtual Reality Simulations

Welcome to CVI-SIM

We create computer simulations so you can see the world as it might be seen by those with brain-based impairments of vision, called cerebral visual impairment or CVI.

CVI-SIM is a collaboration between the Schools of Medicine and Computer Science.  We support many student projects.  Our project partner is the charity CVI Scotland.  The programme has been created through listening to people with CVI and consulting with CVI experts.

We know CVI is a very complex medical condition.  Our simulations serve many purposes.  Most important is to help with understanding, to improve support for people affected by CVI.  CVI-SIM has also proved to be an effective platform for research, and through listening to people with CVI, we are learning more and more about the condition.

Our simulations include visual perception difficulties that affect many children.

We are very excited to share our progress.  For updates, please see our social media.

Best,

Team CVI-SIM

The project has been developed over many years and several phases:

Phase 1: Dorsal Stream Dysfunction CVI Experience

2018

Our challenge, could we create a simulation of the experience of dorsal stream dysfunction? Read about our incredibly journey, learning new things about this extraordinary visual process, and watch the short Dorsal Stream Dysfunction Simulation video we created (below), now an international teaching resource.

Phase 2: CVI-SIM

2020

Students created a programme to ‘behave’ like different parts of the visual brain and interact with a virtual reality school.  Multiple controls in the programme mean the CVI experience can be tailored to an individual. We continued to learn more and created many videos showing our progress and to explain CVI.

Phase 3: CVI-SIM Extended

2023

Thanks to a grant we are able to develop both the programme and virtual world. Improvements to the programme mean we will be able to share it, for the first time.  The virtual world will become a small village you can explore, including a school with different classrooms, crossing roads, going to a café, resting in the park and visiting a museum.  Explore as it might be experienced by a person with CVI, and through entering their world, learn both about how incredible they are to navigate such a world, and what you can do to make things easier and more accessible.  See the world differently.

Our first video introducing a new simulation, created following talks with people who have CVI and are affected by visual perception difficulties.

Our first CVI-SIM progress video, introducing you to the classrooms we were creating, the programme and a bit about what we were learning.

One of the many teaching videos we created.  The full set with progress can be found in Phase 2, above.