The Future of Accessible Mixed Reality
What is accessible mixed reality, why is it so important to the future of XR, and how can vendors make their solutions more “accessible”? Here’s everything you need to know about the growing focus on accessible MR technologies.
Mixed Reality (MR) is quickly becoming one of the most exciting developments in the extended reality landscape. Previously virtual and augmented reality systems dominated the market. Mixed reality vendors were few and far between.
However, as demand for XR hardware and software increases among consumers and businesses, we’re seeing a growing demand for systems that bridge the gap between real-world environments and digital experiences. Leaders investing in mixed reality innovations aren’t just focusing on giving users more freedom to experiment with different levels of immersion.
Increasingly, companies like Apple, Meta, and Microsoft are using mixed reality strategies alongside spatial computing to improve the accessibility of immersive experiences.
What is Accessible Mixed Reality?
Mixed reality (MR) is an extended reality technology that blends elements of virtual reality and augmented reality. Essentially, it bridges the gaps between real-world environments, and digital content, in a way that goes beyond “augmenting” an environment with an AR app.
Mixed reality allows physical and digital elements to interact on a broader scale. With AR, you simply see digital content in a real-world environment, but you can’t necessarily interact with that content. With mixed reality, companies leverage spatial computing techniques and advancements in graphical processing, input systems, and computer vision to boost interactivity.
Solutions like the Apple Vision Pro, Microsoft HoloLens 2, and the Meta Quest 3 all enable mixed reality experiences with:
- Environmental understanding, such as spatial mapping and anchors.
- Human input understanding, such as eye, hand, and speech tracking.
- Spatial sound and audio experiences.
- Locations and positioning in virtual and physical spaces.
Accessible mixed reality concentrates on using the unique capabilities available within mixed reality to make technologies more usable and immersive for everyone. It addresses various issues, such as reliance on physical movements that can be problematic for people with motor disabilities and barriers for people with vision impairments, to improve the XR experience.
Accessible Mixed Reality: The Challenges to Overcome
In every area of XR, companies are taking steps to address accessibility options. Many headset vendors offer prescription lens options for people with visual impairments. Plus, most companies are prioritizing improvements in headset visual fidelity to reduce VR sickness issues.
While different companies are exploring various strategies for accessible mixed reality, most are focusing on a series of common challenges identified by users embracing earlier headsets, such as:
- Physical accessibility: Many older VR and MR headsets require users to interact with controllers or use specific gestures to interact with content. This can be challenging for people with mobility impairments.
- Visual and auditory issues: Users with auditory and visual impairments can struggle to respond to audio and visual cues in MR environments. Providing alternative forms of sensory feedback or AI-generated captions for those with auditory issues can help here.
- Motion sickness: Many people suffer from VR sickness, particularly those with sensory or cognitive conditions. Designing experiences that minimize discomfort by eliminating lag or visual distortion can reduce feelings of sickness.
- Cognitive accessibility: Complex interactions in mixed reality can be cognitively demanding. Companies in this sector must design intuitive user interfaces and provide users with options to “simplify” their experience.
- Inclusive content: XR content creators must consider diverse user needs when developing MR experiences. This means using universal design principles and avoiding content that could be exclusionary or discriminatory.
Evolutions in Mixed Reality Accessibility
To enable the global adoption of mixed reality solutions, innovators in this field must recognize the unique needs of people with varying abilities. More than 1.3 billion people worldwide experience at least some form of disability.
Fortunately, innovators are paying attention to the growing demand for mixed-reality accessibility. In 2017, Microsoft established its “Accessible mixed reality” project, working with everyday people and experts around the world to create more accessible products.
Meta announced a similar innovation in 2024, stating that its team was partnering with people with disabilities and disability advocates to create its next line of MR solutions. According to Meta, the company is taking a collaborative approach to designing future hardware and software, prioritizing real-life user experiences.
Here are some of the top strategies leaders use to boost MR accessibility.
1. Optimizing Input Strategies
One of the most significant issues companies need to overcome with accessible mixed reality is the complexity involved in interacting with XR content. Even the most ergonomic controllers can be complex for people with mobility issues. Innovators are exploring various ways to address this issue. Some companies offer customizable controller configurations for specific users.
Others are embracing the era of spatial computing, as well as hand, eye and voice tracking to reduce the need for controllers entirely. With tracking sensors, like those built into the Apple Vision Pro, users don’t have to click buttons on a controller to interact with content.
Instead they can use natural hand gestures, or interact with AI assistants built into headsets using their voice. Some solutions can even rapidly track eye movements and brain-computer interfaces to allow users control systems with minimal movement.
2. The Rise of Haptic Feedback
Haptic technologies like VR gloves and body suits can do more than boost immersion in extended reality experiences. In a mixed reality landscape, people with visual impairments or auditory issues can have difficulty navigating virtual environments with standard cues.
Haptic feedback devices can simulate the sense of touch, helping users to move around a space more confidently, and enjoy the experience of “interacting” with digital objects. Haptic feedback helps people with sensory impairments perceive and interact with their enhanced environments through touch. This boosts spatial awareness, and the overall sensory experience.
Haptic feedback can even help strengthen learning experiences for people who struggle with typical training initiatives in a digital world, paving the way for enhanced muscle memories. Health innovators even use haptic feedback to improve rehabilitation processes.
3. More Accessible Mixed Reality Content
As mentioned above, creating accessible content for mixed reality is crucial for improving user adoption. This doesn’t just mean ensuring that content adheres to user experience best practices, with the right level of contrast in images and high-quality sound.
With AI built into mixed reality software, companies can enable users to automatically transcribe and translate conversations in real-time. AI solutions can reposition mixed reality content for users, responding to their actions and specific needs. They can create live captions to help users follow collaborative sessions, even when they struggle from hearing impairments.
The rise of generative AI in mixed reality content creation even empowers businesses to create dynamic assistants that can customize user experiences in real-time based on their specific needs. For instance, an AI assistant in a training app can adjust course content based on the user.
4. Tackling VR Sickness
VR sickness can be particularly problematic for people with sensory or cognitive impairments. Mixed reality leaders are addressing this concern by creating more intuitive devices that eliminate the sense of “disconnect” between virtual and real-world environments.
With advanced spatial monitoring and computer vision solutions, vendors can ensure that interacting with digital content feels natural. They can use high-powered processing chips to minimize the lag between a user’s input and what happens in an XR app, reducing feelings of motion sickness.
Some companies are even experimenting with MR accessories that can tackle the VR sickness issue, such as chairs that track headset movements and adapt to where a user is positioned in real time or VR shoes and treadmills that offer a more realistic sense of immersion.
5. Collaborative Design Processes
Many top vendors investing in accessible mixed reality aren’t tackling their users’ challenges alone. They’re actively interacting with people who have accessibility issues or disability advocates to make data-driven decisions on improving their products.
We noted above how Meta and Microsoft use collaborative processes to test MR headsets and adapt their strategies based on user feedback. This user-centric approach to design helps these companies to identify potential accessibility challenges and innovative solutions.
Collaborating closely with users who have diverse needs ensures both hardware vendors and software developers can make accessibility an integral part of the design process rather than just an afterthought. This will be crucial as the adoption of MR continues to grow.
The Future of Accessible Mixed Reality
Mixed reality has already proven to be potentially more “accessible” than AR and VR. MR’s focus on AI, and spatial computing enables versatile user experiences.
If companies continue to focus on accessibility when creating MR innovations, the chances are we’ll see global adoption of extended reality continue to grow.
Plus, focusing on accessibility will help innovators discover new ways to use extended reality tools to address countless challenges. Already, innovators are leveraging mixed reality to support therapy and rehabilitation strategies and break down barriers between users.
As we move into the next era of extended reality innovation, accessible devices will be essential. They’ll ensure everyone can unlock the benefits of immersive technology, regardless of their abilities.
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