Accessible and Immersive Realities: Multimodal Pathways to an Inclusive Future

Abstract:

Immersive technologies like AR, VR, and haptics offer immense potential for accessibility, yet realizing this requires addressing the digital divide these emerging platforms can create. At the AIR (Accessible and Immersive Realities) Lab, we define Immersive Accessibility as: making immersive systems natively usable for people with diverse abilities and leveraging these same technologies to build novel assistive applications. In this talk, I discuss our research across five several distinct scopes: Accessible VR, translating spatial audio via visual mini-maps and head-mounted haptics; Expressive and Immersive Captions, utilizing wrist-worn vibrations and expressive typography to convey emotional prosody; Accessible Authentication, leveraging the private nature of touch for secure, non-visual interactions; Immersive and Accessible Training, integrating Generative AI with VR for vocational social skill practice ; and Accessible Data Visualization, using electrotactile interfaces to help users "feel" complex graphical data. Together, these efforts contribute to a future where technology is inclusive, empowering, and adapt to human diversity.

Bio:

Roshan Peiris is an Assistant Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Director of the Accessible and Immersive Realities (AIR) Lab. He is affiliated with RIT’s Center for Accessibility and Inclusion Research (CAIR) and Frameless XR Labs at MAGIC Spell Studios. His research, centered around Immersive Accessibility, investigates the use of immersive technologies like AR, VR, and haptics for accessibility applications. Previously, Roshan was a Project Senior Assistant Professor at Keio University and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Augmented Human Lab at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. He holds a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from the National University of Singapore and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa.