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• Planning Your Journey in Audio: Design and Evaluation of Auditory Route Overviews

  Nida Aziz, Tony Stockman, Rebecca Stewart · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research develops and evaluates an auditory route overview system that enables blind users to preview walking routes before embarking on journeys. The system addresses a critical gap: while many navigation aids support live guidance, few tools allow blind travelers to gain…

  blind navigation · auditory display · route planning · auditory icons · earcons

• Iterative Design of Sonification Techniques to Support People with Visual Impairments in Obstacle Avoidance

  Giorgio Presti, Dragan Ahmetovic, Mattia Ducci, Cristian Bernareggi, Luca A. Ludovico, Adriano Baratè, Federico Avanzini, Sergio Mascetti · 2021 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents WatchOut, a sonification system that conveys real-time obstacle information to blind or visually impaired (BVI) people through non-verbal audio cues. While white canes detect obstacles only within about 1 meter and miss elevated hazards, computer vision on…

  visual impairment · blindness · sonification · obstacle avoidance · orientation and mobility

• Spotlights and Soundscapes: On the Design of Mixed Reality Auditory Environments for Persons with Visual Impairment

  Keenan R. May, Brianna J. Tomlinson, Xiaomeng Ma, Phillip Roberts, Bruce N. Walker · 2020 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper explores the design of information-rich mixed reality (MR) auditory environments to help people with visual impairments form cognitive maps of unfamiliar indoor spaces. The research contrasts two approaches: soundscapes, where virtual objects in all directions emit…

  mixed reality · spatial audio · auditory display · cognitive maps · indoor navigation

• WatchOut: Obstacle Sonification for People with Visual Impairment or Blindness

  Giorgio Presti, Dragan Ahmetovic, Mattia Ducci, Cristian Bernareggi, Luca Ludovico, Adriano Baratè, Federico Avanzini, Sergio Mascetti · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents WatchOut, a sonification technique that conveys real-time information about obstacle characteristics to people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) through non-verbal sound, enabling them to avoid obstacles while walking. The white cane, the primary…

  sonification · obstacle avoidance · blind · low vision · computer vision

• Design and Evaluation of a Multimodal Science Simulation

  Brianna J. Tomlinson, Prakriti Kaini, Siyan Zhou, Taliesin L. Smith, Emily B. Moore, Bruce N. Walker · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This demonstration paper presents a multimodal version of PhET's John Travoltage interactive physics simulation, designed to support learners with and without visual impairments in exploring static electricity concepts. The key design goal was creating a single simulation with…

  STEM accessibility · sonification · multimodal interface · visual impairment · science education

• Nonvisual Access to an Interactive Electric Field Simulation: Work in Progress

  Clayton Lewis, Derek Riemer · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This demonstration paper presents work-in-progress on making the PhET Project's Radiating Charge physics simulation accessible to blind users through audio representation. The PhET Project offers over 130 interactive science simulations downloaded more than 75 million times…

  blindness · sonification · STEM education · interactive simulation · inclusive design

• Auditory Displays for Accessible Fantasy Sports

  Jared M. Batterman, Jonathan H. Schuett, Bruce N. Walker · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper addresses the inaccessibility of online fantasy sports platforms for visually impaired users and presents an accessible fantasy football system built around auditory display techniques. Fantasy sports are a major social and recreational activity with over 32…

  auditory display · sonification · blind users · visual impairment · sports accessibility

• On the Audio Representation of Radial Direction

  Susumu Harada, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2011 · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11)

  This paper proposes a new primitive for auditory displays — radial direction — and evaluates a concrete mapping of vowel-like sounds to eight cardinal and ordinal directions. The authors observe that almost all prior sonification work has mapped data to linear sound properties…

  sonification · auditory display · auditory interface · non-visual interaction · eyes-free interaction

• Universal Design of Auditory Graphs: A Comparison of Sonification Mappings for Visually Impaired and Sighted Listeners

  Bruce N. Walker, Lisa M. Mauney · 2010 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates whether auditory graphs—using sound to represent data for people who cannot see visual graphs—can be designed universally for both sighted and visually impaired users, or whether different sonification mappings are needed for different populations. Most…

  sonification · auditory display · data visualization · blind users · visual impairment

• Designing Auditory Cues to Enhance Spoken Mathematics for Visually Impaired Users

  Emma Murphy, Enda Bates, Dónal Fitzpatrick · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents a novel auditory math system designed to make spoken mathematical equations more accessible to visually impaired users. The core challenge addressed is that visual mathematical notation conveys structure — such as fractions, superscripts, subscripts, and…

  mathematical accessibility · auditory display · non-speech sound · spearcons · visual impairment

• Constructing Relational Diagrams in Audio: The Multiple Perspective Hierarchical Approach

  Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from Queen Mary, University of London presents a novel approach for constructing and manipulating relational diagrams — such as Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams — through an audio-only interface. While previous research addressed non-visual access to existing…

  auditory display · non-visual representation · diagram accessibility · blind users · accessible graphics

• Designing Auditory Displays to Facilitate Object Localization in Virtual Haptic 3D Environments

  Koen Crommentuijn, Fredrik Winberg · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper investigates five different auditory display designs to help blind users locate objects in a virtual haptic 3D environment explored with a PHANToM Desktop haptic device. While haptic devices give visually impaired users the ability to explore virtual 3D spaces by…

  auditory display · sonification · haptic feedback · virtual environment · blindness

• A General HCI Framework of Sonification Applications

  Ag Asri Ag Ibrahim, Andy Hunt · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper proposes a general HCI framework for understanding and evaluating sonification applications — software that uses non-speech sound to represent data or information. The authors define sonification as having three main elements: Goal (for understanding), Method (how to…

  sonification · auditory display · HCI framework · usability inspection · parameter mapping

• Task Analysis for Sonification Applications Usability Evaluation

  Ag Asri Ag Ibrahim · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This poster paper from University Malaysia Sabah and the University of York proposes a task analysis framework for evaluating the usability of sonification applications — software that transforms data into sound representations. The author argues that while usability evaluation…

  sonification · task analysis · usability inspection · auditory display · accessibility evaluation

• iSonic: Interactive Sonification for Non-visual Data Exploration

  Haixia Zhao, Catherine Plaisant, Ben Shneiderman · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents iSonic, an interactive sonification tool developed at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab that enables vision-impaired users to explore geo-referenced statistical data such as population distribution, crime rates, or election results by…

  sonification · data visualization · visual impairment · auditory display · non-visual interaction

• Visualizing Non-Speech Sounds for the Deaf

  Tara Matthews, Janette Fong, Jennifer Mankoff · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper investigates peripheral visual displays that help people who are deaf maintain awareness of non-speech sounds in their environment — sounds like phone ringing, doorbells, knocking, fire alarms, children playing, dogs barking, and appliances operating. While commercial…

  deaf accessibility · sound visualization · peripheral display · sound recognition · ambient display

• The Audio Abacus: Representing Numerical Values with Nonspeech Sound for the Visually Impaired

  Bruce N. Walker, Jeffrey Lindsay, Justin Godfrey · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper introduces the Audio Abacus, a novel sonification application that transforms exact numerical values into sequences of non-speech tones, following the analogy of a physical abacus where each digit is represented by a distinct sound. Unlike most sonification research,…

  sonification · auditory display · blindness and low vision · data visualization · non-visual interaction

• Lessons from Developing Audio HTML Interfaces

  Frankie James · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents the AHA (Audio HTML Access) framework, a set of principles for choosing sounds to use in audio-based HTML interfaces designed for blind and visually impaired users. The research builds on earlier work at Stanford University exploring how web content can be…

  audio interfaces · non-visual web access · sonification · speech synthesis · blind users

• AudioGraf: A Diagram-Reader for the Blind

  Andrea R. Kennel · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from ETH Zürich presents AudioGraf, a system that enables blind and visually impaired users to read diagrams through a combination of touch panel input and auditory display. The core problem addressed is that diagrams — widely used in technical reports and papers to…

  blindness and low vision · auditory display · tactile graphics · diagram accessibility · non-visual access

• Enhancing Scanning Input with Non-Speech Sounds

  Stephen A. Brewster, Veli-Pekka Raty, Atte Kortekangas · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper proposes adding structured non-speech sounds (earcons) to scanning input systems used by people with severe motor disabilities who can only operate a single switch. Scanning input works by sequentially highlighting items in a grid; the user presses their switch when…

  scanning input · earcons · sonification · auditory display · switch access

• Automatic impact sound generation for using in nonvisual interfaces

  A. Darvishi, E. Munteanu, V. Guggiana, H. Schauer, M. Motavalli, M. Rauterberg · 1994 · Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This paper describes a joint research project between the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) aimed at developing an audio framework for non-visual interfaces based on physically modeled impact sounds. Rather than using arbitrary audio cues…

  sonification · auditory display · non-visual interface · physical modeling · sound synthesis

• Presenting Information in Sound

  Sara Bly · 1982 · Proceedings of the 1982 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '82)

  Sara Bly's 1982 CHI paper, written at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is one of the earliest systematic investigations of using computer-generated sound — rather than graphics — to present multivariate data to human analysts. Bly opens by arguing that purely visual…

  sonification · auditory display · data visualization · multivariate data · non-visual interaction

22 results.