10.1515/aoa-2015-0055
Virtual Sound Localization by Blind People
In the experiment, blind people participated in two tests; the first one took place in the laboratory and the second one in the real environment under different noise conditions. A simple click sound was employed and processed with non-individual head related transfer functions. The sounds were delivered by a system with a maximum azimuth of $32^\circ$ to the left side and $32^\circ$ to the right side of the participant’s head at a distance ranging from 0.3 m up to 5 m.
The present paper describes the experimental methods and results of virtual sound localization by blind people through the use of a simple electronic travel aid based on an infrared laser pulse and the time of flight distance measurement principle. The lack of vision is often compensated by other perceptual abilities, such as the tactile or hearing ability.
The results show that blind people easily perceive and localize binaural sounds and assimilate them with sounds from the environment.
References
Blauert J. (1997), Spatial Hearing: The Psychophysics of Human Sound Localization, Revised edn, The MI Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Brugera A., Duani L., Hartmann W.M. (2013), Human interaural time difference thresholds for sine tones: The high-frequency limit, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 133, 5, 2839–2855.
Brungart D.S., Rabinowitz W.M. (1999), Auditory localization of nearby sources. Head-related transfer functions, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 106, 3, 1465–1479.
Dakopoulos D., Bourbakis N.G. (2010), Wearable Obstacle Avoidance Electronic Travel Aids for Blind: A Survey, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews, 40, 1, 25–35.
Dunai L., Peris-Fajarnés G., Lluna E., Defez B. (2013), Sensory Navigation Device for Blind People, The Journal of Navigation, 66, 349–362.
Dunai L., Peris-Fajarn´es G., Defez Garcia B., Santiago Praderas V., Dunai I. (2010), The influence of the Inter-Click Intervalo n Moving Sound Source Localization for Navigation Systems, Acoustical Physics, 56, 3, 384–353.
Dunai L., Peris-Fajarn´es G., Magal T., Defez Garcia B., Santiago Praderas V., Dunai I. (2011), Virtual moving source localization through headphones, InTech, 269–282.
Fitzpatrick D.C., Kuwada S., Batra R. (2000), Neural Sensitivity to Interaural Time Differences: Beyond the Jeffress Model, The Journal of Neuroscience, February 15, 20, 4, 1605–1615.
Hartmann W.M., Dunai L., Qu T. (2013), Interaural Time Difference Thresholds as a Function of Frequency, Advances in Experimental Medicine Basic Aspects of Hearing, Physiology and Perception, 787, 239–246.
Kunka B., Kostek B. (2012), Objectivization of Audio-Visual Correlation Analysis, Archives of Acoustics, 37, 1, 63–72.
Mendelson Morton J., Haith Marshall M. (1976), The Relation between Audition and Vision in the Human Newborn, With Commentary by James J. Gibson; with reply by the authors; with Further Note by James J. Gibson, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Developments, 41 (4, Serial No. 167).
Mora J.L.G., Rodriguez-Hernandez A.F., Martin F., Castellano M.A. (2006), Seeing the world by hearing: Virtual Acoustic Space (VAS) a new space perception system for blind people, Proceedings of the 2nd Information and Communication Technologies Conference, ICTTA’06, IEEE pp. 837–842.
Takahashi T.T., Keller C.H. (1994), Representation of multiple sound sources in the owl’s auditory space map, The Journal of Neuroscience, 14, 8, 4780–4793.
Thaler L. (2013), Echolocation may have real-life advantages for blind people: an analysis of survey data, Front Physiol., 4, 98.
Wonder S., Charles R. (2005), Loss of sight and enhanced hearing: a neural picture, Plos Biol, 3, 2, e48.
WBU [World Blind Union]. (2012), Visual impairment and blindness. Retrieved March 3th, 2014. Media center, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/.
ASA [Acoustical Society of America]. (2012), ‘Blindness’ may rapidly enhance other senses. ScienceDaily. 8 May 2012. ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508152002.htm.
DOI: 10.1515/aoa-2015-0055