| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
1. During the last decade the technology for implementation of a virtual space or a cyberspace has been improved from both of the hardware and the software viewpoints. Based on such environment the authors have attempted to establish the theoretical methodological basics regarding the way of integrating the visual, auditory and tactile modalities. In this report, on the preparation for the objective, we have researched the way of human's sensory substitution of how the visual modality for spatial perception is substituted by another modality (e.g.auditory or tactile modality). That is, by proposing the three dimensional (3-D hereafter) interaction strategy using 3-D auditory display and 3-D nonverbal voice input, the authors have shown experimentally that manipulating 3-D object might be sufficiently performed without any visual information by utilizing suitable auditory interface with a short term practice. By doing so, not only confirmation of the significance auditory modality is ma
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de, but also the possibility of virtual spatial manipulation just by auditory media is implied.
2. Secondly the authors have attempted the similar research on the sensory substitution function by tactile media. That is, by proposing tactile feedback mechanism for display of depth information of the surroundings of a user calculated by the ultrasonic sensor mounted on user' body, the possibility of spatial perception and spatial manipulation by tactile modality in case of the absence of visual modality is researched. As a result, the authors have confirmed that either auditory modality or tactile modality might be able to substitute satisfactorily the visual modality in terms of spatial perception by psychological experiments as well as task performance experiments, which would be a significant contribution to a new type of man machine interface for disabled or handicapped person.
3. Moreover, several examples of application which integrates these modalities are shown for implementing efficient cyber space, to discuss the importance of multi-modal interface. Our future works include the research of human's environmental adaptability in terms of realization for reality of a virtual space, including temporal human factor for distributed virtual environment (DVE) and televirtuality (TVR). Less
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