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Audification of Ultrasound for Human Echolocation

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Audification of Ultrasound for Human Echolocation Audification of Ultrasound for Human Echolocation by Theresa Claire Davies A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Systems Design Engineering Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2008 ©Theresa Claire Davies 2008 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Individuals with functional blindness must often utilise assistive aids to enable them to complete tasks of daily living. One of these tasks, locomotion, poses considerable risk. The long white cane is often used to perform haptic exploration, but cannot detect obstacles that are not ground- based. Although devices have been developed to provide information above waist height, these do not provide auditory interfaces that are easy to learn. Development of such devices should adapt to the user, not require adaptation by the user. Can obstacle avoidance be achieved through direct perception? This research presents an auditory interface that has been designed with the user as the primary focus. An analysis of the tasks required has been taken into account resulting in an interface that audifies ultrasound. Audification provides intuitive information to the user to enable perceptive response to environmental obstacles. A device was developed that provides Doppler shift signals that are audible as a result of intentional aliasing. This system provides acoustic flow that is evident upon initiation of travel and has been shown to be effective in perceiving apertures and avoiding environmental obstacles. The orientation of receivers on this device was also examined, resulting in better distance perception and centreline accuracy when oriented outward as compared to forward. The design of this novel user interface for visually impaired individuals has also provided a tool that can be used to evaluate direct perception and acoustic flow in a manner that has never been studied before. iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Shane Pinder. Although not my official supervisor, he dedicated many hours to the development and evaluation of the system, the testing, and the editing and re-editing of this work. He has been a constant source of support both with the thesis and with the children while I was dedicating countless hours to achieving this goal. Catherine Burns, my official supervisor, stood by me throughout. She took a big risk by taking me on as a student, especially when I moved to New Zealand half way through. She supported the move and visited to check on my progress. She never doubted my dedication and was prepared to trust and support my decisions. In Auckland, I gained valuable knowledge from the team at the Acoustics Research Centre. George Dodd took me under his wings from the beginning and opened his lab to me. Gian Schmid was a fountain of ideas as well as helping me to dismantle and reconstruct test equipment within the anechoic chamber. I cannot thank these people enough for the never- ending support and guidance. I am grateful for the considered thoughts of my committee members and for their cooperative spirit and careful reading of my final document. Their comments and suggestions have sparked many ideas regarding both the current work and future projects. iv My family has also been a constant source of encouragement and moral support. My mother dedicated many hours as a pilot subject when visiting Auckland, time that could have been spent doing many more interesting things! My parents have always provided a shoulder to cry on when things get rough and were supportive throughout my academic career. I cannot mention my parents without mentioning the lack of “Mummy time” suffered by my children as a result of me continually having my head in the clouds. I’m sure they’ll turn out okay, but they took a big hit in their early childhood and I hope they’ll be able to forgive me. My son’s last words to me on the way to the airport for my defence, “Mummy, you can only do your best”. I guess he’s learned something over the past few years. v To Nathan and Suzie vi Table of Contents List of Figures............................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xvi 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 2 Background .............................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Perception of environmental information.......................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Direct Perception........................................................................................................ 8 2.1.2 Indirect perception...................................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Using several senses for locomotive guidance ......................................................... 10 2.2 How do visually impaired individuals view their environments? ................................... 11 2.3 The basics of sound localisation...................................................................................... 13 2.3.1 Fixed position studies of localisation........................................................................ 14 2.3.2 Motional Perception of Localisation......................................................................... 19 2.3.3 Distance Perception.................................................................................................. 20 2.3.4 Localisation by individuals who are visually impaired ............................................ 21 2.4 Using sound in the design of auditory interfaces ............................................................ 22 2.4.1 Earcons...................................................................................................................... 23 2.4.2 Auditory Icons.......................................................................................................... 23 2.4.3 Audification .............................................................................................................. 23 2.4.4 Sonification............................................................................................................... 24 2.4.5 Behavioural Responses to auditory elements of context .......................................... 24 2.4.6 Multivariate Icons..................................................................................................... 25 2.5 Echolocation .................................................................................................................... 26 2.5.1 Echolocating mammals............................................................................................. 27 2.5.2 Human Echolocation................................................................................................. 29 2.5.3 Spectral content of echoes ........................................................................................ 30 2.5.4 Factors that affect echolocation ................................................................................ 33 2.5.5 Echolocation Summary............................................................................................. 34 2.6 Obstacle Detection........................................................................................................... 34 2.6.1 Primary Mobility Aid................................................................................................ 35 vii 2.6.2 Devices to increase preview distance – Secondary Mobility Aids........................... 39 2.6.3 Device Summary....................................................................................................... 46 2.6.4 Navigational Aids..................................................................................................... 47 2.7 Summary of research to date ........................................................................................... 48 2.8 What are the next steps? .................................................................................................. 51 2.8.1 What must be displayed to a visually impaired traveller to provide sufficient information for obstacle avoidance while attempting to minimise the user’s cognitive load?.. ................................................................................................................................... 52 2.8.2 How can auditory information be displayed to allow for direct perception of an environment?.......................................................................................................................... 53 2.8.3 Can audification in the form of down converted ultrasound provide adequate information for detection and localisation of environmental obstacles?................................ 54 2.8.4 Does the use of audification allow for direct perception of environmental obstacles without training? ...................................................................................................................
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