A group of friends and I went to a Smithsonian museum one afternoon, and spent the rest of the day talking about all of the different items and things we learned about. I had a lot of fun at the museum and got to explore many exhibits, but I had missed several items that my friends really enjoyed because I didn’t notice they were there or had trouble seeing them. I remember wishing that I could go back to the museum that night so I could keep exploring.
This happens a lot when I visit museums with low vision, especially if I can’t stand close enough to view items or if a bunch of items are placed close together. Something that has transformed how I visit museums is to explore virtual museums, check out online museum archives or online museum tours, or engage with 360-degree museum images or videos so I can interact with content at my own pace. This makes museums more accessible in terms of distance/travel, but also more accessible in terms of making content easier to see with low vision.
Here are examples of how I interact with virtual museums and online museum tours with low vision, including tips for how to make virtual museums more accessible for visually impaired audiences. I primarily focus on low-visual accessibility and strategies that can be useful for CVI, which is the most common cause of visual impairment; there are also a few resources that focus on nonvisual and blind museum accessibility as well.
Examining individual objects vs online museum tours
Many museums have searchable online collections/museum archives that can be used to find items both on and off-exhibit, which can be useful for examining individual objects without distractions; this can be especially helpful for users that are impacted by visual clutter and may have trouble with seeing items in crowded or busy spaces (such as those with CVI). Sometimes, I will look up items while I am at the museum if I want to get a closer look at specific details or if the item is hard to see. Other times, I will search for items before or after the museum visit so I can get a closer look at the details of an item. Many online collections include tags for specific exhibits or galleries so users can view items sequentially.
Another option for exploring online museums is through virtual tours, which often replicate the experience of navigating a museum in-person through the use of photos, videos, or a digital twin (2D/3D model). Instead of viewing items individually, virtual tours often show items arranged the same way as they are in the real-world museum, while giving users the opportunity to view items close up with the use of browser zoom, high resolution images, or similar strategies.
When visiting virtual museums with low vision, I will often have one tab open with the online collection and another tab with a virtual tour, so I can view items up close while also seeing how they are displayed at the museum or within the context of the environment. I also use virtual tours to preview museums before I visit so I can check out the exhibit layout in advance.
Related links
- Tips For Visiting Art Museums With Low Vision
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- How To Create High Resolution Images For Low Vision
- Van Gogh Museum Collection
- The Last Museum | Art search engine
- How I Use Google Lens With Low Vision
- 108 billion pixels scan of Girl With a Pearl Earring
How I explore virtual museum tours with low vision
There are so many ways to create and share virtual museum tours online, with some museums offering multiple types of online tours or interactive exhibits. Examples of online museum tours and virtual field trips I have interacted with include:
- Video tours of museums with narration
- Photo tours with captions
- Audio tours or audio guides
- 360-degree images or videos
- 3D tours with photos or realistic models of museum spaces
- 4K museum tours
- 3D reconstruction tours
- Live/synchronous guided tours of museums
- Interactive webpages
- Accessible tours for visually impaired
I typically use either a computer or tablet to view virtual museum tours; I like using tablets because I can hold them close to my face and adjust the screen to fit under the lined bifocal in my glasses. I also like enlarging items on my computer so I can use the mouse to locate things or make objects larger on the screen. Because I have a brain condition impacted by strobe lights and flashing lights, I avoid wearable AR/VR headsets or placing phones close to my eyes so I can quickly look away from the screen if needed.
I often use pinch-to-zoom, scroll-to-zoom, or browser zoom to enlarge virtual tours, and find it helpful to open images in a separate tab or full size window so I can see them. For reading text, I often use screen magnification to enlarge content, or will hold my phone in front of a screen and use a visual assistance app to read text out loud, so I can keep looking at the screen.
Related links
- How I Use My Smartphone For Traveling With Low Vision
- Free Science Websites For Low Vision Students
- All About Visual Assistance Apps For Visually Impaired
A short list of virtual museum tours
Many museums host virtual tours on their own websites or use platforms like YouTube or Google Arts and Culture to host official museum tours. I often discover virtual museums tours or virtual field trips by searching online; here’s a list of free online museum tours with varying accessibility:
- Google Arts and Culture (multiple)
- Van Gogh Museum
- The Louvre
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
- Old Sturbridge Village
- Museo Frida Kahlo
- The Met 360
- Rijksmuseum
- The British Museum
- Getty Museum
- Bloomberg Connects (app with accessibility features)
- Cooper Hewitt Museum
I love visiting virtual Smithsonian museums as well as browsing Google Arts and Culture to browse hundreds of museum tours and exhibits. Virtual tours can also be used to preview spaces before visiting in-person.
Listening to museum podcasts and audio content
In this context, audio description is a narrative track that provides a detailed visual description of an item or museum exhibit for audiences that might not be able to see it. Museum audio description can be structured like a podcast, incorporating interviews, music, and multiple perspectives to draw attention to various visual details of an item; alternatively, audio description can focus on reading exhibit labels and sharing key details of an item on display. Some museums provide audio description or audio tours online or through a museum app, so visitors can play tours from their own device, or organize audio description tracks as a playlist so users can advance between tracks (which I find really helpful).
Museum podcasts and curated playlists can be used in conjunction with virtual tours or to provide in-depth information about exhibits in an audio-first format. Curated playlists can include podcasts, but many of the playlists I have encountered focus on music, historical audio, ambient sounds, or other soundscapes that relate to the art/exhibit itself.
Related links
- Visiting The Museum of Modern Art With Vision Loss
- Visiting The Met With Visual Impairment
- ArtUK Audio Description Playlist
- NC Museum of Art Audio Description on SoundCloud
- Museums and Parks With Audio Description | Audio Description Project
- Audio Art Resources For Visually Impaired Students
- Background Sounds and Ambient Audio for Low Vision
- History Podcasts and Audio-Based Resources For VI Students
Browsing museum blogs and social media for accessible content
Another source I use for exploring online museums with low vision is checking out museum social media profiles or blogs that incorporate text, photos, and video content to provide descriptive information about items on display. I can zoom in on content or use tools like text-to-speech or screen readers to hear text read out loud.
In recent years, more museums have added image descriptions and alt text to images, which makes a profound impact on accessibility for audiences that find images difficult or impossible to access visually. Alt text and image descriptions provide a text-based description of visual details in an image, and can be useful for providing context or clarification about what is in an image.
Related links
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- How To Write Alt Text For Educational Content
- Purposes of Media Descriptions for Visual Impairment
- A to Z of Assistive Technology For Low Vision
- Web Search Tips and Operators For Low Vision
Searching for audio description videos and accessible tours for visually impaired audiences
Many museums offer audio description or described videos for visually impaired audiences, which can be found by searching for keywords like audio description, enhanced description or described video. Audio description is separate from captioning or transcripts, which are another helpful accessibility tool for making content accessible.
Some museums also offer virtual tours for blind, visually impaired, and partially sighted visitors, including live tours and pre-recorded videos. I have also found several accessible museum videos on platforms like YouDescribe (which hosts YouTube videos with audio description) and the Aira YouTube channel.
Disclaimer: I previously received free Aira service through a now-defunct program for college students in 2018/2019 and spoke at an Aira-sponsored event in 2018.
Related links
Using 3D models for low vision accessibility
In addition to 2D scanned images or photographs of items, many museums offer 3D digital models of items on display, which can be rotated and enlarged. 3D models can often support higher levels of magnification or zoom compared to 2D images, which may appear blurry or pixelated at higher magnification levels. Some museums like the Smithsonian maintain a separate 3D archive on their Open Access page, while other museums host 3D models on websites like SketchFab or Google Arts and Culture.
Outside of digital 3D models, many museums also offer 3D printing files for creating tactile models, which can be useful for visually impaired audiences. I also like using 3D models for CVI accessibility because they can be isolated against a blank background to decrease visual clutter or distracting backgrounds.
Related links
- Using Digital 3D Models With Low Vision
- Smithsonian 3D digitization
- 3D models at The Met
- Museum of Modern Art 3D Models
- Cleveland Museum of Art on SketchFab
- 3D models | Google Arts and Culture
More ideas for exploring virtual museums with low vision
- Museums should provide a content warning for videos or exhibits that contain strobe lights or flashing lights. Learn more about how to screen content in How To Check Videos For Flashing Lights
- Another way I have used virtual tours is to explore college campuses. I write more about using the YouVisit platform in Touring Colleges With Virtual Reality
- Want to visit a museum in-person? Check out my tips in Tips For Visiting Art Museums With Low Vision
- One memorable virtual museum experience I still think about years later is Exploring “David Bowie Is” With Augmented Reality and Low Vision, which I also visited in-person. This experience made me even more excited to explore virtual museum tours!
Published July 24, 2020. Updated May 2026
APA Citation
Lewis, V. (2020, July 24). Exploring Virtual Museums With Visual Impairment. Veroniiiica. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://veroniiiica.com/make-virtual-museums-accessible-for-low-vision/