Architecting an Intercommunicative Experimental Environment with Research Participants and its Parameters Proceedings of the 2012 Japan-Taiwan Symposium on intelligent Green and Orange (iGO) Technology, held on December 10 – 11, 2012 at National United University, MiaoLi, Taiwan Sendai National College of Technology Nakai Akihito, Yairi Satoshi 1

Orientation & Mobility The blind must be able to perceive their circumstances with their ears. This skill is known as “Auditory Orientation” The visually impaired can work with specialists of Orientation & Mobility to receive training in auditory orientation, with the aim of being able to function in daily life. 2

Orientation & Mobility Training “auditory orientation” for the blind is usually conducted in the real world, however… the real world is dangerous, especially for beginner trainee. Training conducted with auditory Virtual reality (VR) sound, known as auditory display provided with HRTFs would be helpful. 3

What is HRTF? This function can extract “locational information” (direction, distance) of sounds. HRTF can be combined with another sound data. HRTF can convolute 3D perception of the recorded HRTF point with sound data. Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) HRTF is usually measured. Problems: Long duration of measurement, and other obstacles when obtaining HRTF. 4

In fact, there are several ways to obtain an HRTF other than measurement. Assuming blind people, an HRTF was obtained from a database that contains many precisely measured HRTFs. Thus, we aim to measure HRTF as precisely as possible in healthy individuals to produce a precise HRTF database. Goal: a system which can be easily applied to measurement HRTF, with minimal stress to subjects. HRTF for The Blind 5

HRTF measurement takes at least 2 hours per person. Subjects must maintain their body position for the entire measurement period to obtain a precise HRTF. →This procedure requires tense concentration, and is quite tiring. HRTF Measurement 6

Sleepiness while measuring in anechoic chamber Silent chamber and nothing to do. Unconscious motion of Head & Body Hard to maintain exactly same body position. We propose a system that can grasp the status of subject being measured in the anechoic chamber via sensor parameters. Measurement Problems 7

Using a Kinect to get positions of a subject’s body. Using iPod touch with a “gyrosc” app. to obtain precise head motion data. Using iPad with a “touchOSC” app. to notify the subject’s body motion. Varying Position Notification with Sensors 8

9 iPod gyro sensor can precisely measure accurate tilts. (iPod touch is used for reference values) ・ iPad notifies the subject’s motions via wireless LAN. Kinect can observe whole body motion even in depth direction.

10 Overview of Proposed System

Measurement on This System 11 Set measurement mode ↓ Set initial body position ↓ Keep body position according to notification

Set Measurement Mode 12 Make a circle above subject’s head 4 seconds after seating. Kinect will cease to capture leg motion, and reference doll will be set in a seated position. Make a circle above the subject’s head for 8 seconds to disable the mode.

Set Initial Body Position After mode setting, the subject raises his right hand level with his shoulder, and decides initial body position. Without bending it, the subject moves his right arm ahead. This triggers position calibration. Finally, the subject puts his hands on his knees. 13

Keep Body Position According to Notification 14

Keep Body Position According to Notification Center coordinate shows the subject’s head position. Estimating Head position with the head and torso coordinate values. When there are inclines, a green point will light up. 15

Keep Body Position According to Notification With a deg. incline, yellow points will light up. Or with a deg. incline, orange points will light up. With inclines over 8 deg., red points will light up. 16

Conclusion An intercommunicative experimental environment consisting of some devices and sensors is proposed. Proposed prototype system can support precise measurement HRTFs, and create on exact HRTF database. Precisely measured HRTFs measured function better perception of the blind in an auditory orientation training system with the auditory display. 17