Presenting information in sound

ABSTRACT

In the past few years, the increase in interactive use of computers has led to an emphasis on human factors and the ways in which digital information can best be presented to users. Computer graphics has been at the forefront of this growth involving vision as an active aid in interpreting data. Bar charts, psuedo-color image processing, and 3-dimensional figures are but a few means of providing the viewer with data information. As the use of computers increases, the need for a variety of alternatives of interacting with computers also increases. Computer-generated sound is one capability not being fully utilized in the computer/human interface. Just as an x-y plot reveals relationships in data, sounds might also reveal relationships in data. This report focuses on the potential for using computer generated sounds to present data information. The first section addresses multivariate data problems which might be aided by sound output. The second describes experiments performed to determine whether listeners can discriminate among data sets based on sound. The final section discusses ongoing work and future directions.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.5 Sound and Music Computing

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

General Terms:
Human Factors