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Has anybody tried to use mouse to 'echo-locate' parts of the screen? Bats, with far simpler brains, can see complex scenery and prey in real time, so I'm sure a
by akomtu 5y ago
Has anybody tried to use mouse to 'echo-locate' parts of the screen? Bats, with far simpler brains, can see complex scenery and prey in real time, so I'm sure a small portion of the visual cortex could figure echo location. The idea is to generate sound based on close surroundings of the cursor, in real time. To an inexperienced user, this sound would be meaningless, but witj practice that sound would let the user see.
- Grustaf 5y agoThere have definitely been attempts for mapping the real world, but the ones I've seen have been quite primitive. I started my own project around this, but I never had the time to finish anything useful.
- cortesoft 5y agoWhy would that be better than using a keyboard to navigate between discrete units on the screen? There are a set number of clickable points on the screen, why make a game for the blind user to try to echo-locate those spots instead of just letting them cycle through them? The point of a screen for a sighted user is to make a concise way to transmit existing information... it is only a good way if you are sighted.
- akomtu 5y agoWell, how do you screen-read a geometric shape?
- gugagore 5y agohow do you echolocate a shape? It seems you are suggesting some mapping of a 2D visual scene to audio. If that is useful in practice, it is one of many possible interfaces that blind people could use. It wouldn't supplant screen readers.
- ajb 5y agoThird hand report, but apparently academics have tried to simulate what an echo locating person would hear from a 3d world, but not yet managed to convey the experience to a blind person over audio. IE there is some effect that they haven't captured yet So Doom for echo locators not yet possible.
- rtkwe 5y agoSeems like to even be possible you'd have to have a really good model of each users ear to figure out how to use headphones to recreate the effects that has on how sound is localized.
- Grustaf 5y agoThat part is old news, it's called Head Related Transfer Functions and even using a general HRTF works quite well. I presume you've tried Spatial Audio with airpods, or some similar system? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function.
- rtkwe 5y agoI've heard of HRTF but dig the name out of my memory to mention it. I'm not sure those are good enough for faking ecolocation though. Don't have an iPhone or EarPods to try spatial audio.