AusVision

AusVision

Overview

An innovative augmented reality (AR) application designed to enhance understanding and empathy for children with autism.

AusVision is an innovative augmented reality (AR) application designed to enhance understanding and empathy for children with autism. By integrating AR technology with insights gained from interviews and research with professionals and researchers in the autism field, AusVision uses imagination and AR simulations to depict the world as seen through the eyes of individuals with autism. The app aims to provide a deeply immersive experience for those working in the autism field, as well as anyone who wishes to contribute to the well-being of this community. AusVision also calls for broader societal efforts to improve the living conditions of individuals with autism.

The Team

Jianan Johanna LIU

Project Lead & Developer

Yuqi Song

Co-creator

Danlin Huang

Co-creator

AusVision Breakdown

Autism + us + Vision Allows us to see the world through the vision of autism. 让我们感受孤独症眼中的世界。

Inspiration

During our research and interviews with professionals working with autism and their families, we discovered that they often feel puzzled by the unique behaviors of individuals with autism and wish to experience these behaviors from their perspective. For designers, empathy is crucial when creating designs for special groups and conducting user practices. However, no matter how many papers we read or how much desk research we do, without personally experiencing their challenges—and given that many designers cannot spend extended periods with these special groups—it's easy to overlook many of their unique needs in the design process.

Effect

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Key Features

Key Features
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Key Features
Key Features

Attention Distraction

In the world of children with autism, maintaining attention is highly challenging. Our AR application realistically simulates the state of attention distraction that autistic children often experience by introducing randomly moving bright spots in the visual field. These spots appear, disappear, and move unpredictably in space, disrupting the visual focus and allowing users to experience the difficulty of staying concentrated.

Noise Interference

Children with autism are often hypersensitive to sounds, and background noise can cause them significant distress. To recreate this experience, the AR application continuously plays various noises, such as white noise and static, disrupting the user’s auditory experience. This noise interference helps users directly feel the discomfort and anxiety that autistic children experience in noisy environments, providing a better understanding of why they might exhibit avoidance or unease in social and communicative situations.

Stereotyped Movements

Research indicates that children with autism engage in a series of stereotyped behaviors because they find it helps alleviate psychological discomfort. To help users understand this, we designed an interactive feature where, when the AR system detects the user making a hand-flapping gesture, the application reduces the intensity of the negative visual and auditory stimuli. This design simulates the process by which autistic children use repetitive behaviors, such as hand-flapping or tapping, to relieve stress when they feel anxious or uncomfortable.

Butterfly Hands

Hand-flapping, also known as "butterfly hands," is one of the common stereotyped behaviors among children with autism. To simulate this phenomenon, the AR application generates virtual spiders on the user’s hand. When the user rapidly shakes their hand (mimicking the hand-flapping motion), the spiders are shaken off, and the disturbing visual and auditory effects in the environment subside. This interaction metaphorically conveys how stereotyped behaviors serve as a coping mechanism for autistic children to manage sensory overload.