The Development of Auditory Icons for Representation of Virtual Objects in 3-D Space

Abstract

Recent technology has enabled directional audio displays to be fielded in the cockpit. Directional audio displays convey the location of a sound source to the pilot. If a sound is chosen to indicate a certain event, qualitative data can also be communicated. This study examined several types of auditory signals, or icons, for use in the cockpit. Each of five icons was evaluated for five subjects' ability to localize and identify the icon. Spectral and temporal characteristics were varied among the icons. Three elevations were used for each of seven azimuth locations. Identification was nearly perfect for all icons while localization accuracy was highly variable. Both spectral and temporal features proved to be important for localization accuracy. Differences between subjects in elevation accuracy may be reduced by using custom head related transfer functions. These findings are directly applicable to the design of auditory icons for use in directional auditory displays to be fielded in the near future.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA364329

Entities

People

  • Don C. Teas

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Acoustic Signals
  • Air Force
  • Auditory Signals
  • Directional
  • Ear
  • Frequency
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Identification
  • Judgment
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Target Angle
  • Technical Information Centers
  • Test Sets
  • Three Dimensional
  • Transfer Functions

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

Technology Areas

  • Space