Article

The audio abacus: representing numerical values with nonspeech sound for the visually impaired

Authors:

Bruce N. Walker,

Jeffrey Lindsay,

Justin GodfreyAuthors Info & Claims

Assets '04: Proceedings of the 6th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility

Pages 9 - 15

https://doi.org/10.1145/1028630.1028634

Published: 01 September 2003 Publication History

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Abstract

Point estimation is a relatively unexplored facet of sonification. We present a new computer application, the Audio Abacus, designed to transform numbers into tones following the analogy of an abacus. As this is an entirely novel approach to sonifying exact data values, we have begun a systematic line of investigation into the application settings that work most effectively. Results are presented for an initial study. Users were able to perform relatively well with very little practice or training, boding well for this type of display. Further investigations are planned. This could prove to be very useful for visually impaired individuals given the common nature of numerical data in everyday settings.

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Cited By

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Wang RJung CKim Y(2022)Seeing Through Sounds: Mapping Auditory Dimensions to Data and Charts for People with Visual ImpairmentsComputer Graphics Forum10.1111/cgf.1452341:3(71-83)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2022
https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14523
Ludi STimbrook MChester P(2014)A Tablet-Based Approach to Facilitate the Viewing of Classroom Lecture by Low Vision StudentsComputers Helping People with Special Needs10.1007/978-3-319-08599-9_87(591-596)Online publication date: 2014
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08599-9_87
Abu Doush IPontelli ESon TSimon DMa O(2010)Multimodal Presentation of Two-Dimensional ChartsACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/1857920.18579253:2(1-50)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1857920.1857925
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Index Terms

The audio abacus: representing numerical values with nonspeech sound for the visually impaired
1. Applied computing
  1. Arts and humanities
    1. Sound and music computing
2. Information systems
  1. Information retrieval
    1. Specialized information retrieval
      1. Multimedia and multimodal retrieval
        Music retrieval

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Reviews

Reviewer: Chaim M Scheff

Using an audio tone codex to represent visual information is sometimes applied to trend analysis (a "time series of sounds to represent a time-series of data"), and is sometimes used to express point estimation ("an exact audio representation of an exact visual, physical, logical value"). Point estimation via audio needs to convey an absolute metric equivalent of visual data, for example, a tone sequence conveying the price of an item. The audio abacus (AA) codex represents this quantity as a series of digital sonic impulses, wherein the variability of the impulses may be expressed as pitch, volume, and/or modulation, creating a point estimation codex representation that is seemingly easy for users to learn and correctly interpret. Previous research [1] notes that there are specific environmental hearing sensitivities of the visually impaired person that should not be put at conflict with sensory assistance devices. Specifically, designers should avoid very high frequencies, which deteriorate with age, and low and middle frequencies, used for interpersonal communications and environmental queueing. Thus, the practical AA codex should be above the speech and below the age-related hearing loss ranges. The AA codex reports good progress in the expression of point estimations via audio displays, in that ordinary users rapidly learn the AA system with reasonable accuracy and repeatability.

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Published In

Assets '04: Proceedings of the 6th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility

October 2004

202 pages

ISBN:158113911X

DOI:10.1145/1028630

General Chair:
Julie A. Jacko
Georgia Institute of Technology
,
Program Chair:
Andrew Sears
UMBC

ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing Just Accepted
Sept. 2003 - Jan. 2004
192 pages
EISSN:1558-1187
DOI:10.1145/1029014
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 September 2003

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ASSETS04

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ASSETS04: The 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Assistive Technologies

October 18 - 20, 2004

GA, Atlanta, USA

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Assets '04 Paper Acceptance Rate 25 of 47 submissions, 53%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 436 of 1,556 submissions, 28%

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Wang RJung CKim Y(2022)Seeing Through Sounds: Mapping Auditory Dimensions to Data and Charts for People with Visual ImpairmentsComputer Graphics Forum10.1111/cgf.1452341:3(71-83)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2022
https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14523
Ludi STimbrook MChester P(2014)A Tablet-Based Approach to Facilitate the Viewing of Classroom Lecture by Low Vision StudentsComputers Helping People with Special Needs10.1007/978-3-319-08599-9_87(591-596)Online publication date: 2014
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08599-9_87
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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1857920.1857925
Abu Doush IPontelli ESimon DSon TMa OTrewin SMcCoy K(2009)Making Microsoft Excel™Proceedings of the 11th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility10.1145/1639642.1639669(147-154)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2009
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Karam MRusso FBranje CPrice EFels DShaw CBartram L(2008)Towards a model human cochleaProceedings of Graphics Interface 200810.5555/1375714.1375759(267-274)Online publication date: 28-May-2008
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Stefik AAlexander RPatterson RBrown J(2007)WADProceedings of the 15th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension10.1109/ICPC.2007.42(69-80)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2007
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Lutz R(2006)Prototyping and evaluation of landconsACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing10.1145/1196148.1196150(8-11)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2006
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Frances Van scoy AMcLaughlin DVernon Odom JWalls RZuppuhaur M(2006)Touching mathematics: a prototype tool for teaching pre-calculus to visually impaired studentsJournal of Modern Optics10.1080/0950034060061865253:9(1287-1294)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2006
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Brulé ETomlinson BMetatla OJouffrais CSerrano MBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Review of Quantitative Empirical Evaluations of Technology for People with Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376749(1-14)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
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