Spatial Audio Guidance for Visually Impaired Exploration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional guidance systems for visually impaired individuals cannot facilitate the discovery of new surroundings or attractions along a guided route, relying solely on pre-planned content and lacking real-time auditory cues for exploration.
Innovation Solution
An information processing device that uses a terminal device and open earbuds to provide sound information by switching between virtual point and surround sound sources based on the user's distance to nearby destinations, utilizing head-related transfer functions to simulate spatial audio and alert the user to new attractions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional guidance systems provide route guidance to visually impaired persons, then the user can reach the destination, but the user cannot discover new things present around him/her on the guided route
Solution Approach 1:
The guidance system is segmented into multiple functional components: a guidance function that provides route guidance to the destination, and a notification function that separately provides information about surrounding objects. This segmentation allows both functions to operate independently without interfering with each other, resolving the contradiction between maintaining guidance simplicity and adding exploratory information.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification function acts as an intermediary between the user and the surrounding environment. It mediates by detecting objects in the vicinity and converting this spatial information into audible notifications, enabling visually impaired users to discover new things without disrupting the primary guidance function.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system provides only pre-planned guidance content, then the guidance function is simple, but the user cannot newly discover attractions during movement
Solution Approach 1:
The information processing device is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a guidance system and an exploration/notification system. The notification function universally handles various types of surrounding objects (stores, landmarks, attractions) using a unified detection and notification mechanism, enabling exploration capability without requiring separate specialized systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification function dynamically activates based on the user's movement and proximity to objects. It continuously monitors the surrounding environment and adaptively provides notifications about newly detected objects, allowing the system to transition from static pre-planned content to dynamic real-time discovery without complex reconfiguration.
3Measurement precision
If the system uses spatial audio technology to provide directional sound information, then the user can locate objects accurately, but the processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces complex mechanical or visual localization methods with acoustic field-based spatial audio technology. By using head-related transfer functions (HRTF) to simulate three-dimensional sound fields, the system achieves precise object location information through acoustic processing rather than mechanical measurement, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification function changes audio parameters (sound field characteristics, direction, volume) based on the user's proximity to objects and the object's spatial position. By dynamically adjusting these acoustic parameters, the system encodes precise location information into sound wave properties, achieving accurate localization through parameter modulation rather than complex processing algorithms.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing device (1) according to the present disclosure includes a storage unit (3), an acquisition unit (41), a calculation unit (42), and a processing unit (43). The storage unit (3) stores position information of a destination and sound information corresponding to the destination. The acquisition unit (41) acquires position information of a user. The calculation unit (42) calculates a distance from the user to the destination on the basis of the position information of the destination and the position information of the user. According to the distance, the processing unit (43) switches a virtual point sound source and a virtual surround sound source and causes the sound information to be output.