Using Sound to Enhance Users’ Experiences of Mobile Applications

The latest smartphones with GPS, electronic compass, directional audio, touch screens etc. hold potentials for location based services that are easier to use compared to traditional tools. Rather than interpreting maps, users may focus on their activities and the environment around them. Interfaces may be designed that let users search for information by simply pointing in a direction. Database queries can be created from GPS location and compass direction data. Users can get guidance to locations through pointing gestures, spatial sound and simple graphics. This article describes two studies testing prototypic applications with multimodal user interfaces built on spatial audio, graphics and text. Tests show that users appreciated the applications for their ease of use, for being fun and effective to use and for allowing users to interact directly with the environment rather than with abstractions of the same. The multimodal user interfaces contributed significantly to the overall user experience

Cueing and composing for long distance network music collaborations.

Long distance network music collaborations beyond the ensemble performance threshold (EPT) as exposed by Schuett in 2002 [14] where playability is affected beyond a roundtrip network delay of 50ms calls for the development of cueing mechanisms that are methodical and linked to musical parameters. The cueing strategies involved in such musical interactions will depend on the type of repertoire played and the network distance (ND) between the nodes involved in the performance. This paper proposes a semi-standardized cueing framework for real time collaborations over the network with latencies of more than 50ms. The paper also explores a compositional methodology for creating network centric performances, which couldn’t occur outside of a networked situation

3D sound for simulation of arthroscopic surgery

Arthroscopic surgery offers many advantages compared to traditional surgery. Nevertheless, the required skills to practice this kind of surgery need specific training. Surgery simulators are used to train surgeon apprentices to practice specific gestures. In this paper, we present a study showing the contribution of 3D sound in assisting the triangulation gesture in arthroscopic surgery simulation. This ability refers to the capacity of the subject to manipulate the instruments while having a modified and limited view provided by the video camera of the simulator. Our approach, based on the use of 3D sound metaphors, provides interaction cues to the subjects about the real position of the instrument. The paper reports a performance evaluation study based on the perception of 3D sound integrated in the process of training of surgical task. Despite the fact that 3D sound cueing was not shown useful to all subjects in terms of execution time, the results of the study revealed that the majority of subjects who participated to the experiment confirmed the added value of 3D sound in terms of ease of use

disDance 11054.80 Liminalities [video and text]

A special issue based on a selection of papers and performances at 'Remote Encounters: Connecting bodies, collapsing spaces and temporal ubiquity in networked performance, a two-day international conference' (11th - 12th of April 2013) exploring the use of networks as a means to enhance or create a wide variety of performance artsThe disDance project was the beginning of an enquiry-process in which some of the possibilities of working on networked, physically separated, interdisciplinary performance, incorporating interactive media, architecture and dance/performance/audio were investigated. disDance 11054.80 was prepared for the Remote Encounters International Conference and acts as the template for future collaborations using similar methodologies. The piece was sited in two geographically separated locations; Cardiff, UK and Lasalle College of Arts, Singapore. At each site, dancers/performers were interacting with their colleagues at the other site through a novel networked messaging system designed specifically for live performance. Heidi Saarinen, who was the overall creative director, was based in Cardiff (where she was the performer) while Ian Willcock (the developer of the LIMPT system) coordinated from Singapore. The title disDance 11054.80 relates to the collaborative aspect between disparate disciplines and refers to the multi-location aspect as well as holding a factual reference to the distance in kilometers between the two locations involved in the project; Cardiff and Singapore (11054.80 km).Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Some research advances in computer graphics that will enhance applications to engineering design

Research in man/machine interactions and graphics hardware/software that will enhance applications to engineering design was described. Research aspects of executive systems, command languages, and networking used in the computer applications laboratory are mentioned. Finally, a few areas where little or no research is being done were identified

"Sitting too close to the screen can be bad for your ears": A study of audio-visual location discrepancy detection under different visual projections

In this work, we look at the perception of event locality under conditions of disparate audio and visual cues. We address an aspect of the so called “ventriloquism effect” relevant for multi-media designers; namely, how auditory perception of event locality is influenced by the size and scale of the accompanying visual projection of those events. We observed that recalibration of the visual axes of an audio-visual animation (by resizing and zooming) exerts a recalibrating influence on the auditory space perception. In particular, sensitivity to audio-visual discrepancies (between a centrally located visual stimuli and laterally displaced audio cue) increases near the edge of the screen on which the visual cue is displayed. In other words,discrepancy detection thresholds are not fixed for a particular pair of stimuli, but are influenced by the size of the display space. Moreover, the discrepancy thresholds are influenced by scale as well as size. That is, the boundary of auditory space perception is not rigidly fixed on the boundaries of the screen; it also depends on the spatial relationship depicted. For example,the ventriloquism effect will break down within the boundaries of a large screen if zooming is used to exaggerate the proximity of the audience to the events. The latter effect appears to be much weaker than the former

Warnings and Disclosures

This chapter reviews nearly six decades of research on warnings and disclosures, including common misperceptions and their importance to public health policy, and offers an answer to the key question, “Do warnings and disclosures really work?” Supporting theory and research applications are discussed

Sound for enhanced experiences in mobile applications

When visiting new places you want information about restaurants, shopping, places of historic in- terest etc. Smartphones are perfect tools for de- livering such location-based information, but the risk is that users get absorbed by texts, maps, videos etc. on the device screen and get a second- hand experience of the environment they are vis- iting rather than the sought-after first-hand expe- rience. One problem is that the users’ eyes often are directed to the device screen, rather than to the surrounding environment. Another problem is that interpreting more or less abstract informa- tion on maps, texts, images etc. may take up sig- nificant shares of the users’ overall cognitive re- sources. The work presented here tried to overcome these two problems by studying design for human-computer interaction based on the users’ everyday abilities such as directional hearing and point and sweep gestures. Today’s smartphones know where you are, in what direction you are pointing the device and they have systems for ren- dering spatial audio. These readily available tech- nologies hold the potential to make information more easy to interpret and use, demand less cog- nitive resources and free the users from having to look more or less constantly on a device screen

Computer-mediated knowledge communication

New communication technologies enable an array of new working and learning scenarios in which knowledge is being communicated. This article deals with the question to what extent these technologies can impede or facilitate knowledge communication. First, the various computer-based communication technologies will be classified. Second, effects of the medium on knowledge communication will be discussed based on results of studies of the current special priority program "Net-based Knowledge Communication in Groups". Third and last, computer-based possibilities to facilitate computer-mediated knowledge communication will be reviewNeue Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglichen eine Reihe neuer Arbeits- und Lernszenarien in denen Wissen kommuniziert wird. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich damit, inwiefern diese Technologien Wissenskommunikation einschränken oder fördern können. Dazu werden in einem ersten Schritt die verschiedenen computerbasierten Kommunikationstechnologien untergliedert. In einem zweiten Schritt werden Wirkungen des Mediums auf die Wissenskommunikation diskutiert. Dazu werden u. a. die Ergebnisse von Studien des aktuellen Forschungsschwerpunkts "Netzbasierte Wissenskommunikation in Gruppen" berichtet. In einem dritten und letzten Schritt werden computerbasierte Möglichkeiten zusammengefasst, computervermittelte Wissenskommunikation zu förd

Improving Screencast Accessibility for People with Disabilities: Guidelines and Techniques

Screencast video tutorials are increasingly popular in libraries, but may present access problems for people with disabilities unless specific accessibility features are added during screencast creation. This article reviews existing standards for accessible web-based multimedia and gives guidelines on how to create accessible screencasts based on these standards