2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Development of a mobility assist system "acoustic arrow" for the visually impaired using perceived movement of sound
| Project/Area Number |
16K12958
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
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| Research Institution | Kobe University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
佐藤 洋 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, 情報・人間工学領域, 研究部門長 (10260423)
佐藤 逸人 神戸大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (30346233)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | ユニバーサルデザイン / 音響案内 / 視覚障がい者 / 音の移動感 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The purpose of this this research is to develop a new mobility assist system for the visually impaired by transmitting a direction of "arrow" as auditory information using perceived movement of sound. We examined whether it is possible to make a specific direction of "arrow" be perceived regardless of the listener, with a minimal system that alternately presents sound from two loudspeakers on the left and right in front of the listener. As a result, it became clear that a specific direction can be perceived by optimizing the time interval between sounds and the strength of sound based on the "law of pragnanz" in psychology. This result demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method.
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| Free Research Field |
環境音響学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
本研究の学術的な特色は，近未来の移動支援システムとして主流になることが予想される情報端末等特別な装置に依存した方法に頼らずに，人間の聴覚の空間知覚能力を利用し，騒音や残響音等の環境音に対して頑健でかつ有効な移動支援システムを実現しようとする点である。また，この研究の結果として，上述した移動支援システムが確立されれば，視覚障がい者の移動時の安全性を高め，より活発な社会参加を促すとともに，音環境そのものを静かで快適にすることができる。
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