VR Accessibility: How to Add In-App Display Settings

Person wearing VR headset with earbuds with Visual Settings sliders for contrast, saturation, temperature, tint, hue shift

Meta has nine accessibility Virtual Reality Checks (VRC) for creating accessible virtual reality (VR) experiences for people with disabilities. This looks at Accessibility VCR.Accessibility.5, which focuses on providing users with the ability to adjust display settings such as contrast, saturation, temperature, hue shift, and tint to accommodate their visual needs. This article will help developers incorporate this into their VR applications to ensure a more inclusive user experience.

Before diving in, you can try the demo and view the source code.

New to Virtual Reality Development?

If you’re new to virtual reality development and want to dive into Unity, here are some resources to help. These guide you through learning about application programming interfaces (API) and setting up the development environment. Here are two useful software development kits (SDK) to get started.

XR Integration Toolkit
- Installation of XR Interaction Toolkit: Official documentation by Unity
- Easy Unity VR Tutorial for Beginners: Unofficial documentation that is easier to follow.
Oculus Integration Toolkit
- Get Started with Oculus in Unity: Official documentation by Meta

How to Implement VRC.Accessibility.5

This takes you through the process to implement display settings for accessible VR. It looks at the implementation of VRC5 on Meta’s First Hand Application.

Download the First Hand Project and open it in Unity’s editor. This demo uses Unity version 2021.3.21f1. (We recommend using this on 2021 version of Unity.)
Add the Oculus Integration package (Make sure you log in with the same email ID you use in Unity) to your project by activating Add to My Assets.
Return to Unity editor and go to Window > Package manager.
In the package manager, select packages and “My Assets.”
Activate the Import button.
Import all the packages by leaving the checkboxes all checked.
Confirm the added package is current by verifying there are no updates displayed on screen.
If the Project shows the following pop up after opening, select “Ok” to upgrade to the current version of URP.

Add app display settings to First Hand Project

These steps show you how to enable visual features such as contrast, saturation, hue, temperature, and tint using post processing.

Note that this setup has been tested and works on URP-based projects and the features are implemented using post processing effects. (If the project is not based on universal rendering pipeline, then there are other resources and references provided at the end of this article for implementing VRC5.)

1. In the Unity editor, open Assets/Projects/Scences/ClockTower.unity.
It displays the TMP Importer pop up. Select “Import TMP Essentials” and “Import TMP Examples & Extras” and close the dialog.
Download the VRC-5 Prefab and paste the folder into the “Assets” folder of the project.
Open the VRC_5 prefab folder and drag and drop the VRC_5.prefab into the Hierarchy window. This adds the in-app settings to change the visual options.
Expand the VRC_5 prefab and select GameObject named “Global Volume.”

In the inspector window, Expand the Volume component and activate the “New” button present in the Profile section of the volume component.
Select add overrides and add “Color Adjustments.”
Check ALL the options present.
Similarly, select “Add Override” and add “White Balance” settings present in the post processing and check the box “Temperature” and “Tint.”
Confirm the inspector editor looks like the following image.
Now, you should be able to run the application and change the appearance of the application from the sliders at runtime.

Connect the user interface elements for the VRC5 prefab

Enable the hand ray interaction by expanding the GameObject called “UIHelpers” in the hierarchy.
Select “LaserPointer” in the UIHelpers. In the Inspector, select the three dots at the top right corner of the laser pointer script and select “Edit Script.”
Enter [SerializeField] above line private LaserBeamBehavior _laserBeamBehavior ( line 39) and save the script (CTRL+S).
Return to the LaserPointer inspector in the unity editor.In the Laser point script select the Laser Beam behavior from the drop down as “On When Hit Target.” Refer to the following image for reference.
Select “EventSystem” present under the UIHelpers in the hierarchy. On the inspector side, expand the “OVR Input Module (Script)” and from the drop down present for the “Joy Pad Click Button” select “Secondary Index Trigger.”This lets you interact with the display settings with a ray coming out from your right hand.
Select the visual settings present in the hierarchy and drag and drop the CenterEyeAnchor from the hierarchy to the event camera field as shown in the following image. CenterEyeAnchor is located at Player>OVRCameraRig>TrackingSpace>CenterEyeAnchor
Drag and drop the visual setting script present in the VRC_5 prefab folder (Assets>VRC5_prefab) to the inspector window of the visual setting component. Refer the below figure for reference.
Drag and Drop the components (Contrast,Saturation,Temperature,Tint,Hue Shift and Reset) from the hierarchy to the visual setting script added in step 16. Add Global volume to global volume field, contrast to the contrast slider field and so on as marked in the following image.
To link the functions present in the visual setting script to the sliders select the contrast entity present in the hierarchy and drag and drop the Visual settings component (Parent of the contrast) to the on value changed field present in the inspector under the slider component. Refer to the next image.
Select the drop down no function present in the OnValueChanged(single) and click on Visual settings and select “getContrast” function. This links the function to the slider.
Follow steps ?? and ?? for all other entities (Contrast, Saturation, Temperature, Tint, Hue Shift, and Reset) and link the respective functions to the UI. The below table will help you link the respective function to its respective slider element.

Contrast getContrast

Saturation getSaturation

Temperature getTemperature

Tint gettint

Hue Shift getHueshift

Reset Reset()

And that’s it. Kudos! Attach your headset to the system and enjoy the application. If you want to build the APK and flash the application in your headset, make sure to turn off the Event systems present in the Pointable Canvas Module (present in the unity hierarchy) before making a build. This event system interferes with the event system of the UI helpers.

Disable the Event system present in the inspector window of the pointable canvas module.

How to verify VRC5 settings

The following lists the steps to test the VRC5 settings to check they’re working and shows what it looks like before and after.

Launch the title.
Go to Display settings.
Confirm that you can change the brightness and contrast.

App display settings for contrast, saturation, temperature, tint, hue shift, and reset.

Users should be able to adjust in-application brightness and contrast per their preferences into the unity editor as well as with the in-app display setting.

How Do the VRC5 Settings Help Accessibility?

VCR5 provides guidelines for adjusting the display settings to let users control the visibility of the application. These settings include contrast, saturation, and hue shift. After implementing VRC5, here’s what each setting looks like before and after.

Contrast

Giving users a way to change contrast helps make the applications more visible. Providing contrast options enhances the accessibility of VR applications in the following ways:

Improves object and user interface visibility
Improves text legibility
Improves environmental awareness
Reduces eye strain
Provides customization

The following images show the difference in using contrast. The first image has no or low contrast. The calculator’s digits are barely visible. Applying the contrast settings increases the visibility of the digits on the calculator.

Interface showing calculator with less contrast with its digits barely legible

Interface showing calculator with more contrast with its digits more legible

Saturation

Achromatopsia is a condition characterized by a partial or total absence of color vision. People with complete achromatopsia cannot perceive colors. They only see black, white, and shades of gray. Lowering the saturation values to -100 causes the application to convert to grayscale to enhance accessibility.

Testing with a grayscale user interface enables you to test your own application to see if it uses color to communicate information. This can be used to assist with validating if your application meets the Use of color Web Content Accessibility Guidelines success criterion.

Changing saturation enhances the accessibility of applications in VR in the following ways:

Differentiates visuals
Enhances color perception
Improves visual clarity and readability
Improves environmental perception
Provides customization

Colorful scene of a room filled with computers next to same scene in grayscale with low saturation

By providing the option to modify saturation levels during VR application design and development, developers can improve accessibility and create a more inclusive and enjoyable VR experience for a variety of users.

Hue shift

People who are colorblind can benefit from hue shift. Color blindness is a condition that affects the ability to perceive or differentiate certain colors. By using hue shift in VR applications, developers can enhance color differentiation to improve the experience for people who are colorblind.

Here are some different types of color blindness and how hue shift can help:

Protanopia: People with protanopia perceive red as more green and duller. By shifting the hue of certain red tones towards more distinguishable hues, such as orange or pink, people with protanopia can better differentiate red objects from other colors.
Deuteranopia: People with deuteranopia see green as red. Adjusting the hue of green tones can help them differentiate green objects from other colors.
Tritanopia: People with tritanopia can’t tell the difference between purple and red, blue and green, and yellow and pink. While hue shift may not be as effective for tritanopia, it’s possible to adjust other color aspects, such as contrast and brightness, to make colors more distinguishable.

Changing hue shift enhances the accessibility of applications in VR in the following ways:

Enhances color contrast
Highlights important elements
Provides customization

Default colorful scene of a room filled with computers next to image of same room with hue shift applied to reduce reds to look more green

By carefully adjusting the hue and other color parameters in VR applications, developers can create greater contrast and differentiation between color combinations. This allows people who are colorblind to better perceive and distinguish colors within the application.

Changing the temperature and tint in VR applications can enhance accessibility for people with visual disabilities. Here’s how these adjustments can help:

Color perception enhancement: People with colorblindness or vision disabilities may perceive specific colors differently. By adjusting the temperature and tint, developers can modify the color balance and color cast in the VR environment. This helps people differentiate between colors that might otherwise appear similar.

Personalized visual experience: Temperature and tint adjustments allow users to customize the visual experience in VR according to their preferences. Some may have personal preferences for warmer or cooler color tones. They may require specific color temperature adjustments for improved visibility and comfort. These customization options in VR applications allow people to make changes based on their color preferences and accessibility requirements.

Environmental immersion: Changing the temperature and tint can create specific environmental effects in VR applications. For example, adjusting the temperature to a warm tone can simulate a sunny environment, while applying a cool tint can create a cold or icy atmosphere. These modifications enhance the immersion and realism of the VR experience, making it more engaging.

Visual comfort and fatigue reduction: People with vision disabilities or conditions may find certain color temperatures or tints more comfortable for extended VR use. Allowing them to adjust the temperature and tint based on their comfort levels can help reduce eye strain and discomfort, which creates a more accessible and enjoyable VR experience.

By offering customizable temperature and tint settings within VR applications, developers can provide users with greater control over their visual experience. They can adjust colors and tones according to their preferences and visual needs. This enhances the accessibility and inclusiveness of VR applications for individuals with varying visual disabilities and preferences.

Conclusion

This article discusses the importance of accessibility in VR applications, including the use of contrast, saturation, temperature, and hue shift to enhance visibility and meet diverse user preferences and needs. Additionally, it delves into the implementation of post-processing effects, accessing and modifying values, and utilizing UI sliders to control and customize settings in real-time.

Creating inclusive and immersive experiences requires considering the unique requirements of users, such as those with color blindness. By taking advantage of the power of XR technology, developers can help build a more accessible and engaging future.

Future Scope

Alternate options to sliders: Sliders are a common way to adjust app settings, but they can be difficult to use for people with limited dexterity. Alternate options, such as +/- buttons, could be implemented to make it easier for everyone to adjust game settings.
Ability to change the color of a particular object: Currently, most apps change the colors of the entire scene when accessibility features are enabled. This can be disorienting for some players. A better solution would be to allow players to change the color of a particular object, such as the player character or the text.
Moveable in-app display menu: The in-app display menu is currently fixed at a particular position in the game. This can be inconvenient for players who are unable to reach the menu. A better solution would be to make the menu moveable along with the user, or to add it to one of the buttons on the controller.

Additionally, allow players to adjust the font size and contrast of the in-game text.

Watch the Video

Transcript: Vision Accessibility Toolkit for VR - Yuvraj Kadale

YUVRAJ KADALE: So I'm Yuvraj Kadale from India. I'm here as an XROS fellow, and here I will be sharing my work with you all. During my XROS fellowship journey, I've created an accessibility toolkit. And let's see what it is.

So I will be giving a brief overview of what VRC is. It stands for virtual reality check. It stands for a set of guidelines defined by Meta, to ensure that virtual reality applications meet certain standards and requirements for the functionality and performance of the user experience. So there are these virtual reality checks which are defined So coming to the VRC accessibility feature 5, which I have worked on, it states that the applications enable people to edit their display settings, such as brightness and contrast, to enhance their visual needs and comfort.

So this is the demonstration of the project. Which I have created. This is the vision accessibility toolkit. And it has been implemented on the firsthand project, which is Open Sourced by Meta.

So as you can see, the user is able to change its contrast. As soon as the contrast slider is getting changed. In the realtime, we are able to see the difference in the visual display of the application. One can observe here, when we change the saturation and reduce it to the minimum value, we see it in the black and white space.

This feature is very helpful for the developers to test if their application is dependent on any color or not. Similarly, there are some other features, like temperature, tint, and hue shift. So hue shift is one of my favorites. As it enables the user to completely change the colors, and it is very helpful for the users who have some kind of colorblindness.

So moving forward... How this functionality will actually help the users. So how is it creating the difference? One can see here: This is how the user application was looking when there was the normal contrast settings. But as soon as the user is changing it, and enhancing the contrast, the texture is more visible. The UI has been improved. There is less eye strain. And it allows the user to customize their experience. Moving on to the saturation feature, the huge difference it creates for the users who are having this achromatopsia, this is the condition where someone is partially or has total absence of color vision. So people with complete achromatopsia cannot see any colors. They can see only some black and white shades and some shades of gray. So setting the saturation value to minimum, it changes the complete user experience

into black and white, which helps the user to get interaction completely with the application. So this feature can be also helpful for the developers to test their applications in the absence of color. And actually verify whether the application is dependent on any sort of color. So as mentioned before, the hue shift feature -- this feature helps the user to change the color and remove a particular color completely, so there are different types of colorblindness. Protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia. Protanopia is when people have difficulty perceiving the red color. So by using the hue shift, you can see we have red color here, and when we use the hue shift, the red color completely disappears. Similarly, deuteranopia is when they have difficulty with green colors and tritanopia where the user cannot see blue colors. This feature is

very helpful for users with colorblindness, and they can completely change their vision and make the application more accessible. There are more add-on features, which I have added. Like temperature and tint. So one can change the temperature and get it more as an interactive application and feel it like how they are feeling in the current world.

So one can try out this demo on their Oculus. So I dropped that link on the chat box. The link has how one can download this and actually experience it on the Oculus.

On the same link, you can give me feedback on the ID I have posted on the doc. So here are a few of the testimonials which I have received from the users who have actually tried my application. So we have Sangita. She said that: I'm truly impressed with the great work done to enhance inclusivity for the visually impaired. And we can all share the same experience, creating a more inclusive world, looking forward to even more exciting developments in the future. And we have Tabish Imran, who said the app is really cool and interesting for first time users. Now with the option of visual controls, the color seems more vibrant and comforting. The control panel to select a desired color pattern is really helpful for someone like me with red-green colorblindness, as now I'm able to distinguish between objects of these colors, which was difficult earlier.

Then we have the feedback from Suvarana Maji. She says that the options in the visual settings tab were pretty handy. By adjusting a few settings, I was able to custom enhance the view and my optical experience. Last, but not the least, we have Hemanth Naga Sai saying really amazed by the VR experience. What was even more amazing is the UI settings available for adjusting saturation, contrast, and hue, which change the entire attire of the visual. This kind of customization could make the user experience more smooth and pleasing and I really appreciate the amount of hard work went into creating it. So thank you for the feedback from all the users.

In future, there are some future works which can be done to enhance this toolkit. One is the distance. Distance grabbing. That means that in an application, if there is an object placed at a particular distance, a user with low vision will have difficulty to see or pursue the object. So the user should have the capability to change the size of that object at any distance. And also if the distance is so much larger, the user should have the option to grab it from a distance and make it closer to the user and actually analyze the object or pursue the object.

So yeah. That's it. Thank you. That was all from my side.

So I'm Yuvraj Kadale, an XROS Fellow from India. At this, I'm open for questions and answers.

THOMAS LOGAN: Good. Well, I will say -- I just want to say that I love this project. I really want to emphasize that you have an easy way to implement this. In your project. From following all the step-by-step instructions that have been written here. So I think this is really a great place, and as shown here, the VRC item for implementing the accessibility checks -- that's one of the things we were hoping with this work to assist Meta and Unity with. Is real step by step ways to do it. So I guess I'll just give you a quick question, Yuvraj.

What did you find the most interesting part of doing this work? Since you've been working on this fellowship for multiple months. What was the most interesting experience for you?

YUVRAJ KADALE: Yeah. So... The very best experience which I had was having this first experience on VR. So I was completely new to the virtual reality world, and how the things worked.

So being from a completely new background and moving to a new space, it was very exciting. And thanks to Thomas, Equal Entry, and XR Access for providing me the hardware and actually helping me to experience how VR looks like, how the virtual world is, and what are the actual limitations, current limitations that users are facing, and how it can be made more accessible.

Solving the realtime problem was most exciting for me. And as soon as the fellowship was ongoing, the challenges which I was facing and the solutions which I was getting on the Waypad, the journey was so good, that as soon as we were moving close to the destination, it was feeling more exciting, and as the outcome of the project was coming and I was getting the feedback from the users, interacting with the users, getting the feedback, what I have developed, and how it is actually helping or not, that was very exciting for me. So I would like to thank everyone for giving me this opportunity. And so much thanks for giving me a chance to present my work.

Yeah. Thanks a lot. THOMAS LOGAN: Thank you. And everyone, you now can follow up -- there's an article on the Equal Entry website, with all the details, following these steps, and Yuvraj's contact information is available as well. And I think we're all excited to see what else can happen with this. There's one more question here. I'll just ask you one more. With your future proposed work, are you considering how you can adapt the viewing experience for those requiring prescriptive lenses? So that currently requires an external, add-on solution. In some head sets. So maybe I guess for people wearing glasses or prescriptive lenses. YUVRAJ KADALE: Yeah. So this was in the field of VR... There are some other headsets available, which helps the user to have the lenses, and on top of that, the glasses can be worn. Alternately, for those specific headsets, Oculus,

in the future work, focal lens can be added. So whatever perspective lenses the user is having, they have a particular vocal length. What distance they can see. So there can be an option to the user to change their focal length as per their requirements. With the focal length, the user may not wear the glasses, and the VR itself will be able to display it on the eye's retina clearly.

So that can be done in the future work. And alternatively, if we move from virtual reality to mixed reality, the user cannot -- may not wear any perspective glasses. Sorry. I mean... The user can wear the perspective glasses on top of their headset. So it will be with the glasses, and they can actually interact with the world. Yeah. THOMAS LOGAN: Great. All right. Well, thank you so much. And thank you for your excellent work. And I look forward to seeing what other developers build on top of it.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank adXR for giving us feedback and improving this article. Further, I would like to thank Thomas Logan, Dylan Fox, Meryl Evans, and Kenji Yanagawa for helping me with the article by improving it and making it more accessible.

Virtual Reality (VR) Accessibility Consulting Services

Our years of experience working with virtual reality and being speakers on the topic have given us a unique perspective when it comes to consulting on VR projects. If you’d like to innovate in the accessibility of VR please, please contact us to discuss how we can help you.

Virtual Reality Accessibility: How to Add In-App Display Settings

New to Virtual Reality Development?

How to Implement VRC.Accessibility.5

Add app display settings to First Hand Project