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“I always wanted to see the night sky”: blind user preferences for Sensory Substitution Devices

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 00:51 authored by Giles Hamilton-Fletcher, Marianna Obrist, Phil Watten, Michele Mengucci, Jamie WardJamie Ward
Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) convert visual information into another sensory channel (e.g. sound) to improve the everyday functioning of blind and visually impaired persons (BVIP). However, the range of possible functions and options for translating vision into sound is largely open-ended. To provide constraints on the design of this technology, we interviewed ten BVIPs who were briefly trained in the use of three novel devices that, collectively, showcase a large range of design permutations. The SSDs include the ‘Depth-vOICe,’ ‘Synaestheatre’ and ‘Creole’ that offer high spatial, temporal, and colour resolutions respectively via a variety of sound outputs (electronic tones, instruments, vocals). The participants identified a range of practical concerns in relation to the devices (e.g. curb detection, recognition, mental effort) but also highlighted experiential aspects. This included both curiosity about the visual world (e.g. understanding shades of colour, the shape of cars, seeing the night sky) and the desire for the substituting sound to be responsive to movement of the device and aesthetically engaging.

Funding

SenseX - Sensory Experiences for Interactive Technologies; G1589; EUROPEAN UNION; H2020-ERC-2014-STG-638605

Seeing the World through Sound: Developing Multi-Sensory Technology for Young Blind People; G1478; UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

CHI '16 Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Page range

2162-2174

Event name

ACM CHI Conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2016)

Event location

San Jose, CA, USA

Event type

conference

Event date

May 7-12, 2016

Place of publication

New York, NY, United States

ISBN

9781450333627

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-04-11

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-05-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-04-11

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