Glossary

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Audio Augmented Reality(also: Audio AR, Augmented Audio Reality, Audio-Augmented Environment)

The overlay of digital sound — synthesised speech, music, earcons, or spatialised audio cues — onto a user's perception of their real or virtual environment. Audio augmented reality can be head-worn (via open-ear or bone-conducting headphones) or environmental (via fixed…

Audio Beacon(also: Auditory Beacon, Sound Beacon)

A spatial audio cue, typically a repeating tone or beep, attached to a specific location or object to help users with visual impairments navigate toward or identify points of interest in physical or virtual environments. Audio beacons vary in parameters such as pitch, timbre,…

Audio-Based Virtual Environment(also: Audio Virtual Environment, Sound-Based Virtual World, Auditory Virtual Environment)

An audio-based virtual environment is a computer-generated interactive space that uses sound — including 3D spatial audio, stereo effects, and environmental audio cues — as the primary channel for conveying information about the virtual world, enabling navigation, orientation,…

Clock-Based Directional Audio(also: Clock-Face Audio Cueing, Clock Position Audio)

A spatial orientation system that communicates direction to users by referencing positions on a clock face (e.g., "3 o'clock" for right, "12 o'clock" for directly ahead), often combined with distance estimates. In accessible VR and gaming contexts, clock-based directional audio…

Hearcon(also: 3D Earcon)

An extension of the earcon concept that adds three-dimensional spatial audio properties to non-speech audio cues used in computer interfaces. While earcons are abstract synthesized sounds that represent interface events or objects, hearcons position these sounds in 3D space…

Interaural Level Difference(also: ILD, Interaural Intensity Difference, IID)

The difference in sound pressure level (loudness) between the two ears, used by the auditory system to localize sound sources. Sounds coming from the right are louder in the right ear due to the head creating an acoustic shadow. ILD is most effective for localizing…

Interaural Time Difference(also: ITD, Interaural Phase Difference)

The difference in arrival time of a sound between the two ears, used by the auditory system to localize sound sources in the horizontal plane. Sound from the left reaches the left ear before the right ear; the brain uses this timing difference (up to about 0.6-0.7 milliseconds…

Microsoft Soundscape(also: Soundscape)

Microsoft Soundscape was an accessible navigation app developed by Microsoft Research that used spatialized 3D audio to help blind and low-vision users build awareness of their surroundings. Rather than providing turn-by-turn directions, Soundscape placed virtual audio beacons…

Soundscape(also: Auditory Soundscape, Audio Landscape)

An auditory environment where multiple spatialized sounds represent objects or landmarks in all directions around a listener, creating an acoustic representation of physical space. In accessibility applications, soundscapes use spatial audio technology to make virtual objects…

Spatialization(also: Spatialisation, Audio Spatialization, 3D Audio Spatialization)

The process of rendering a sound so that it appears to originate from a specific location in three-dimensional space around the listener. Spatialization typically combines head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) to model how ears filter sound by direction, binaural or ambisonic…

Spatialized Audio(also: 3D Audio, Spatial Sound, Immersive Audio)

Spatialized audio is a technology that creates the perception of sound coming from specific locations in three-dimensional space around the listener, using techniques such as head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and binaural rendering. In accessibility, spatialized audio is…

Spatialized Sound(also: Spatial Audio, 3D Audio, Spatialized Audio)

Audio that is rendered with positional information so that it appears to originate from a specific location in three-dimensional space around the listener. Spatialized sound uses techniques like head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), interaural time differences, and interaural…

Stereo Panning(also: Audio Panning, Pan)

The technique of distributing a mono sound signal between the left and right channels of a stereo output to create the perception that the sound originates from a specific horizontal position in space. A fully left-panned sound plays only in the left ear, a centered sound plays…

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