Haptic-auditory perceptual feedback based training for improving the spatial acoustic resolution of the visually impaired people
Author(s)
Bălan, Oana
Moldoveanu, Alin
Nagy, Hunor
Wersényi, György
Botezatu, Nicolae
Stan, Andrei
Lupu, Robert-Gabriel
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Abstract
3D binaural sounds play an important role in the development
of navigational systems for the blind people. The use of
generic HRTFs in virtual auditory displays significantly
affects the acoustic spatial resolution and the listener’s ability
to make localization judgments regarding the sound sources
situated inside the cone of confusion. The aim of this paper is
to investigate whether haptic-auditory feedback based training
can enhance sound localization performance, front-back
discrimination and the navigational skills of the visually
impaired people. In our experiments, we assessed the sound
localization performance of nine visually impaired subjects
before and after a series of haptic-auditory training
procedures aimed to enhance the perception of 3D sounds.
The results of our tests demonstrate that our subjects
succeeded to improve their sound localization performance,
reduced the incidence of angular precision and reversal errors
and became able to build an effective spatial representation
map of the acoustic environment.
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Date
2015-07
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Proceedings
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This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
– Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.