Young children learning with mobile devices: Research on design and implementation

The increasing growth and usage of mobile devices, such as tablets and iPads, by young children has not yet been accompanied by systematic research about the effects they have on children's learning and the conditions that facilitate or hinder learning and engagement. As a result, only few empirically-based guidelines exist to guide parents, educators, and application (app) designers when choosing or designing apps for young children, often leading to non-evidence-based decisions, or the design of apps with little educational value. This symposium aims to bring together researchers from Australia, the UK and USA to discuss what evidence exist about the learning potential of mobile devices and apps for young children and how it could be used to inform relevant stakeholders

miMic: The microphone as a pencil

miMic, a sonic analogue of paper and pencil is proposed: An augmented microphone for vocal and gestural sonic sketching. Vocalizations are classified and interpreted as instances of sound models, which the user can play with by vocal and gestural control. The physical device is based on a modified microphone, with embedded inertial sensors and buttons. Sound models can be selected by vocal imitations that are automatically classified, and each model is mapped to vocal and gestural features for real-time control. With miMic, the sound designer can explore a vast sonic space and quickly produce expressive sonic sketches, which may be turned into sound prototypes by further adjustment of model parameters

Object-based reverberation for spatial audio

Object-based audio is gaining momentum as a means for future audio content to be more immersive, interactive, and accessible. Recent standardization developments make recommendations for object formats; however, the capture, production, and reproduction of reverberation is an open issue. In this paper parametric approaches for capturing, representing, editing, and rendering reverberation over a 3D spatial audio system are reviewed. A framework is proposed for a Reverberant Spatial Audio Object (RSAO), which synthesizes reverberation inside an audio object renderer. An implementation example of an object scheme utilizing the RSAO framework is provided, and supported with listening test results, showing that: the approach correctly retains the sense of room size compared to a convolved reference; editing RSAO parameters can alter the perceived room size and source distance; and, format-agnostic rendering can be exploited to alter listener envelopment

Wearable and mobile devices

Information and Communication Technologies, known as ICT, have undergone dramatic changes in the last 25 years. The 1980s was the decade of the Personal Computer (PC), which brought computing into the home and, in an educational setting, into the classroom. The 1990s gave us the World Wide Web (the Web), building on the infrastructure of the Internet, which has revolutionized the availability and delivery of information. In the midst of this information revolution, we are now confronted with a third wave of novel technologies (i.e., mobile and wearable computing), where computing devices already are becoming small enough so that we can carry them around at all times, and, in addition, they have the ability to interact with devices embedded in the environment. The development of wearable technology is perhaps a logical product of the convergence between the miniaturization of microchips (nanotechnology) and an increasing interest in pervasive computing, where mobility is the main objective. The miniaturization of computers is largely due to the decreasing size of semiconductors and switches; molecular manufacturing will allow for “not only molecular-scale switches but also nanoscale motors, pumps, pipes, machinery that could mimic skin” (Page, 2003, p. 2). This shift in the size of computers has obvious implications for the human-computer interaction introducing the next generation of interfaces. Neil Gershenfeld, the director of the Media Lab’s Physics and Media Group, argues, “The world is becoming the interface. Computers as distinguishable devices will disappear as the objects themselves become the means we use to interact with both the physical and the virtual worlds” (Page, 2003, p. 3). Ultimately, this will lead to a move away from desktop user interfaces and toward mobile interfaces and pervasive computing

Audio-tactile stimuli to improve health and well-being : a preliminary position paper

From literature and through common experience it is known that stimulation of the tactile (touch) sense or auditory (hearing) sense can be used to improve people's health and well-being. For example, to make people relax, feel better, sleep better or feel comforted. In this position paper we propose the concept of combined auditory-tactile stimulation and argue that it potentially has positive effects on human health and well-being through influencing a user's body and mental state. Such effects have, to date, not yet been fully explored in scientific research. The current relevant state of the art is briefly addressed and its limitations are indicated. Based on this, a vision is presented of how auditory-tactile stimulation could be used in healthcare and various other application domains. Three interesting research challenges in this field are identified: 1) identifying relevant mechanisms of human perception of combined auditory-tactile stimuli; 2) finding methods for automatic conversions between audio and tactile content; 3) using measurement and analysis of human bio-signals and behavior to adapt the stimulation in an optimal way to the user. Ideas and possible routes to address these challenges are presented

Multisensory interactive technologies for primary education: From science to technology

While technology is increasingly used in the classroom, we observe at the same time that making teachers and students accept it is more difficult than expected. In this work, we focus on multisensory technologies and we argue that the intersection between current challenges in pedagogical practices and recent scientific evidence opens novel opportunities for these technologies to bring a significant benefit to the learning process. In our view, multisensory technologies are ideal for effectively supporting an embodied and enactive pedagogical approach exploiting the best-suited sensory modality to teach a concept at school. This represents a great opportunity for designing technologies, which are both grounded on robust scientific evidence and tailored to the actual needs of teachers and students. Based on our experience in technology-enhanced learning projects, we propose six golden rules we deem important for catching this opportunity and fully exploiting it

Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments: the Egocentric Audio Perspective of the Digital Twin

The relationships between the listener, physical world and virtual environment (VE) should not only inspire the design of natural multimodal interfaces but should be discovered to make sense of the mediating action of VR technologies. This chapter aims to transform an archipelago of studies related to sonic interactions in virtual environments (SIVE) into a research field equipped with a first theoretical framework with an inclusive vision of the challenges to come: the egocentric perspective of the auditory digital twin. In a VE with immersive audio technologies implemented, the role of VR simulations must be enacted by a participatory exploration of sense-making in a network of human and non-human agents, called actors. The guardian of such locus of agency is the auditory digital twin that fosters intra-actions between humans and technology, dynamically and fluidly redefining all those configurations that are crucial for an immersive and coherent experience. The idea of entanglement theory is here mainly declined in an egocentric-spatial perspective related to emerging knowledge of the listener's perceptual capabilities. This is an actively transformative relation with the digital twin potentials to create movement, transparency, and provocative activities in VEs. The chapter contains an original theoretical perspective complemented by several bibliographical references and links to the other book chapters that have contributed significantly to the proposal presented here.Comment: 46 pages, 5 figures. Pre-print version of the introduction to the book "Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments" in press for Springer's Human-Computer Interaction Series, Open Access license. The pre-print editors' copy of the book can be found at https://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/sonic-interactions-in-virtual-environments - full book info: https://sive.create.aau.dk/index.php/sivebook