Interface with only Sound

Daniel Flaquinti - 100393621

For this week’s blog I will describe how I would make an interface that would be useable by only using sound. This could be used for someone who has vision problems and cannot see the visual part of an interface. An interface to meet this requirement would be quite challenging to design as a lot to today’s interfaces rely strongly on the visual aspect. For example, all the menus and buttons for the iPhone require the person to be able to see and read the touch screen.

One piece that would help make the interface more accessible is the use of audio signals and indications. Sounds could be used to indicate to the user what kinds of different things are happening when using a device, such as a computer. For occurrences such as an error or system message, the computer could play a distinct tone that the user could easily recognize. To know what the message is saying, a synthesize voice could read the message to the user.  

      

Another challenge for the visually impaired user to overcome would be navigation with a mouse. To overcome this problem I would also rely on the use of sound. I would utilize some kind of speaker array that would allow the user to visualize where the mouse and different icons are on the screen. Small speakers could be placed around the computer or even under the LCD screen. For speakers that are placed under the screen, they would be organized in a grid type fashion. The speaker that would be behind the mouse cursor would play a very distinct and non-intrusive note. The user could listen for this sound and can use it to learn where the mouse cursor is on the screen. Multiple speakers can work in conjunction with fading to allow an accurate depiction of the mouse location with the sound. Other on screen items, such as icons and buttons, could also emit their own distinct sounds. This is so the user would know where they are as well. To click on one of the icons, the player would simply have to move the mouse to align the sound of the courser to the desired icon.  

Speakers could be placed behind the screen.

As mentioned earlier, the sounds these cursors and icons emit will be designed to be recognizable but not annoying. This would be critical for the design as the user would listening to the sound constantly when they are using the interface and they would also need to recognize them in an instant.

This kind of method would theoretically work as it will use the user’s ability to triangulate sound. Since humans have two ears, they can use the difference of the time the sound reaches each ear to locate the source of the sound. Through the speaker array, the user would find out the location of the different onscreen items by only using sound.  

[Picture of monitor]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2013, from http://gz-yitong.com/bigpic/20100305093838.jpg