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An Environment and Studies for Exploring Auditory Representations of Multidimensional Data

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Book cover Perceptual Issues in Visualization

Part of the book series: IFIP Series on Computer Graphics ((IFIP SER.COMP.))

Abstract

The field of auditory data representation has produced several intriguing proof-of-concept systems, but up until now there has been little formal research to measure the effectiveness of auditory data displays or to increase our understanding of how they work and how to improve them. Formal assessment is necessary throughout the process of developing new auditory display technologies in order to learn how to restrict the universe of possible sound attributes to those that are most effective for data representation. The capability to run quick psychometric tests to obtain quantitative figures of merit for alternative auditory representations is a requirement for auditory-display researchers engaged in the development of new technologies. For the first time, this capability is realized with a special-purpose workstation designed to generate and administer psychometric tests automatically using test patterns generated from statistically well-specified synthetic data. We describe the characteristics of one such workstation we have developed. We also describe a testing methodology we propose for the development of new auditory data displays of a type that we have been working with for the last few years. Finally, we describe a specific set of studies we are now beginning to conduct.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Visualization and Perception Research Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA

    Haim Levkowitz, Ronald M. Pickett, Stuart Smith & Mark Torpey

Authors
  1. Haim Levkowitz
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  2. Ronald M. Pickett
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  3. Stuart Smith
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  4. Mark Torpey
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science Institute for Visualization and Perception Research, University of Massachusetts Lowell, One University Avenue, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA

    Georges Grinstein  & Haim Levkowitz  & 

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© 1995 IFIP Series on Computer Graphics

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Levkowitz, H., Pickett, R.M., Smith, S., Torpey, M. (1995). An Environment and Studies for Exploring Auditory Representations of Multidimensional Data. In: Grinstein, G., Levkowitz, H. (eds) Perceptual Issues in Visualization. IFIP Series on Computer Graphics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79057-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79057-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79059-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79057-7

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