Electronic Engineering

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable forms of the disease thanks to the fact that pre-cancerous changes can be detected in cervical cells. These cells are examined visually under microscopes, but the objective of this project was to ascertain whether their examination could be improved if the visual inspection were accompanied by an auditory representation. A number of different sound mappings were tested. This paper also traces the way the sound experiments evolved in parallel with the underlying ...

This paper describes work-in-progress on an Interactive Sonification Toolkit which has been developed in order to aid the analysis of general data sets. The toolkit allows the designer to process and scale data sets, then rapidly change the sonification method. The human ...

This paper describes the sonification of electromyographic (EMG) data and an experiment that was conducted to verify its efficacy as an auditory display of the data. A real-time auditory display for EMG has two main advantages over the graphical representation: it frees the ...

This paper argues for a special focus on the use of dynamic human interaction to explore datasets while they are being transformed into sound. We describe why this is a special case of both human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and sonification methods. Humans are adapted for interacting with their physical environment and making continuous use of all their senses. When this exploratory interaction is applied to a dataset (by continuously controlling its transformation into sound) new insights are gained into the data's macro and micro-structure, which are not obvious in a visual rendering. This paper reviews the importance of interaction in sonification, describes how a certain quality of interaction is required, provides examples of the techniques being applied interactively, and outlines a plan of future work to develop interaction techniques to aid sonification.

This paper argues for a special focus on the use of dynamic human interaction to explore datasets while they are being transformed into sound. We describe why this is a special case of both human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and sonification methods. Humans are adapted for interacting with their physical environment and making continuous use of all their senses. When this exploratory interaction is applied to a dataset (by continuously controlling its transformation into sound) new insights are gained into the data's macro and micro-structure, which are not obvious in a visual rendering. This paper defines the sub-topic of Interactive Sonification, explains how a certain quality of interaction is required, overviews current sonification techniques, provides examples of the techniques being applied interactively, and outlines a research agenda for this topic.

A physical modelling music synthesis system known as 'Cymatic' is described that enables 'virtual instruments' to be controlled in real-time via a force-feedback joystick and a force-feedback mouse. These serve to provide the user with gestural controllers whilst in addition giving tactile feedback to the user. Cymatic virtual instruments are set up via a graphical user interface in a manner that is highly intuitive. Users design and play these virtual instruments by interacting directly with their physical shape and structure in terms of the physical properties of basic objects such as strings, membranes and solids which can be interconnected to form complex structures. The virtual instrument can be excited at any point mass by the following: bowing, plucking, striking, sine/square/sawtooth/random waveform, or an external sound source. Virtual microphones can be placed at any point masses to deliver the acoustic output. This paper describes the underlying structure and principles upon which Cymatic is based, and illustrates its acoustic output.

The aim of the experiment described in this paper is to evaluate and compare three different methods for interacting with an algorithm for the sonification of data streams. The experiment was carried out using an existing Interactive Sonification Toolkit as a high fidelity prototype. The experiment focused on measuring and comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of three interaction methods which differ in the degree of real-time control allowed to the user. Subjects were also asked to answer a questionnaire which gathered information about their perception of using the different interaction methods.

T he research field of sonification, a subset of the topic of auditory display, has developed rapidly in recent decades. It brings together interests from the areas of data mining, exploratory data analysis, human-computer interfaces, and computer music. Sonification presents information by using sound (particularly nonspeech), so that the user of an auditory display obtains a deeper understanding of the data or processes under investigation by listening. 1 We define interactive sonification as the use of sound within a tightly closed human-computer interface where the auditory signal provides information about data under analysis, or about the interaction itself, which is useful for refining the activity.

The paper describes the use of the MIDIGRID and MIDICREA TOR systems with a range of transducers and interface devices in music therapy. This opens up new possibilities, as well as new challenges in the way in which such technology may be used in therapy. Thz paper includes a discussion of the role of music therapy, together with some case histories involving the use of these systems.

This paper considers the issues involved in the design of electronic and computer interfaces, specifically mappingthe designed link between an instrument's playing interface and its sound source. It defines the problem area, reviews the literature, and gives examples of specific system mappings. A general model is presented, with the aim of providing a framework for future discussions on what makes an effective mapping. Several guidelines for mapping strategies are given, based on existing work.

In October 2010, Roberto Bresin, Thomas Hermann and Andy Hunt launched a call for papers for a special issue on Interactive Sonification of the Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces (JMUI). The call was published in eight major mailing lists in the field of Sound and Music Computing and on related websites. Twenty manuscripts were submitted for review, and eleven of them have been accepted for publication after further improvements. Three of the papers are further developments of works presented at ISon 2010-Interactive Sonification workshop. Most of the papers went through a three-stage review process.

This paper stresses the importance of the human user being tightly embedded within an interactive control loop for exploring data sets using sound. We consider the quality of interaction, and how this can be improved in computer systems by learning from real-world acoustic interactions. We describe how different sonification methods can utilise the human feedback loop to enhance the perception and analysis of the data under investigation. Some considerations are given regarding systems and applications.

The aim of the experiment described in this paper is to evaluate and compare three different methods for interacting with an algorithm for the sonification of data streams. The experiment was carried out using an existing Interactive Sonification Toolkit as a high fidelity prototype. The experiment focused on measuring and comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of three interaction methods which differ in the degree of real-time control allowed to the user. Subjects were also asked to answer a questionnaire which gathered information about their perception of using the different interaction methods. The experiment shows that the method providing the lowest degree of real-time control to the user is the least efficient. This method is also perceived to be the least pleasant, fast, clear and intuitive. There are no significant differences in terms of effectiveness and efficiency for the remaining two methods both in terms of objective measures and user perception. Finally the meth...

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable/treatable forms of cancer, due to the fact that precursor signs for the disease can be detected in microscopic examination of cervical cells. Currently these examinations are purely visual, but the project reported aims to process the visual images to present them in a complementary auditory form and thereby to improve diagnostic accuracy. Standard mean-shift image processing techniques have been successfully applied to extract nuclear data suitable for presentation in an auditory form.

This paper focuses on task analysis for sonification applications. The analysis is based on two models, namely the Sonification Application model and User Interpretation Construction model. Both are used to explain what the sonification application offers and what the user will perceive or interpret from the application's sonic output. This analysis gives an overview of the designer's intentions for the sonification application design.

This paper argues for a special focus on the use of dynamic human interaction to explore datasets while they are being transformed into sound. We describe why this is a special case of both human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and sonification methods. Humans are adapted for interacting with their physical environment and making continuous use of all their senses. When this exploratory interaction is applied to a dataset (by continuously controlling its transformation into sound) new insights are gained into the data's macro and micro-structure, which are not obvious in a visual rendering. This paper defines the sub-topic of Interactive Sonification, explains how a certain quality of interaction is required, overviews current sonification techniques, provides examples of the techniques being applied interactively, and outlines a research agenda for this topic.

This paper argues for a special focus on the use of dynamic human interaction to explore datasets while they are being transformed into sound. We describe why this is a special case of both human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and sonification methods. Humans are adapted for interacting with their physical environ- ment and making continuous use of all their senses. When this ex- ploratory interaction is applied to a dataset (by continuously con- trolling its transformation into sound) new insights are gained into the data's macro and micro-structure, which are not obvious in a visual rendering. This paper reviews the importance of interaction in sonification, describes how a certain quality of interaction is required, provides examples of the techniques being applied inter- actively, and outlines a plan of future work to develop interaction techniques to aid sonification.