Evaluation of Short-Range Depth Sonifications for Visual-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution

Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution devices convert visual information into sound and can provide valuable assistance for blind people. Recent iterations of these rely on depth sensors. Rules converting (i.e., the sonifications) are often designed arbitrarily, with no strong evidence choosing one over another. The purpose this article is to compare understand effectiveness five sonifications in order assist design process future visual-to-auditory systems people, which frequency, amplitude, reverberation as well repetition rate short high-pitched sounds signal-to-noise ratio a mixture between pure noise studied. We conducted positioning experiments 28 sighted blindfolded participants. Stage 1 incorporates learning phases followed by estimation tasks. 2 adds additional challenge azimuth first stage's protocol. 3 tests retention incorporating 10-min break before retesting estimation. best estimates stage were obtained frequency beeps. In 2, beep yielded estimation, significant difference was observed Results showed that easiest sonification memorize. Based statistical analysis results, we discuss each other studies encode sounds. Finally, recommendations encoding.