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Presenter(s)
Dan Ratanasit
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 4015
Atlanta, GA 30302-4015
(404) 463-7121
Email: dratanas@cis.gsu.edu
Melody M. Moore, Ph.D.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 4015
Atlanta, GA 30302-4015
(404) 463- 7150
Email: mmoore@cis.gsu.edu
The overall purpose of the AudioMORPH project is to develop software that supports the conversion of graphical user interfaces to auditory user interfaces for people with visual impairments. Our domain target is business information systems applications common to workplaces, such as databases, payroll, and financial systems.
Screen readers are currently used in the workplace to provide access to visually impaired users. Generally these screen readers are adapted for use with many applications commonly used in the typical workplace such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Quicken, etc. Several businesses however use in-house or proprietary software not frequently found in many workplaces. Usually these applications require customization scripts or macros for use with the screen reader in order to optimize auditory access to the interface.
The toolset we are developing will allow a domain expert (a sighted co-worker), rather than a software or rehabilitation engineer, to adapt the information system to auditory output. The AudioMORPH system uses automation to capture user interface information, rather than requiring tedious programming to create scripts. This will allow users with visual impairments to rapidly gain access to business information systems without requiring outside professional customization.
The end product of AudioMORPH will be auditory interfaces for business workers with visual impairments. The actual user of the AudioMORPH toolset is a domain expert, a sighted co-worker who is experienced with the specified information system and the paths that are needed to navigate the user interface in a particular work context. The domain expert will work with the end-user to generate an auditory interface organization that is efficient and effective.
As part of this work, a literature review was conducted which outlined various approaches researchers took in representing graphical interfaces with auditory information with the goal of providing access for people with visual impairments. Work has been done to represent diagrams and numerical tables, backgrounds and visual effects, and spatial information. These works involved the use of synthetic speech, music, earcons (structured sound cues composed of different combinations of rhythm, timbre, pitch, intensity and register used to convey meaning to listener (Blattner, Sumikawa & Greenberg 1989)), auditory icons (real world sounds where a metaphorical relationship exists between the sound and the object it representing (Gaver 1986)) and three-dimensional sound.
Generating auditory interfaces from existing graphical interfaces involves more than simply representing graphical objects with sound. An issue not thoroughly addressed in the literature studied is serialization, the conversion of a two-dimensional graphical interface into a one-dimensional auditory interface. Audio information is relayed to the listener in a sequential fashion whereas visual information may be relayed rapidly with a quick and simple glance. This issue will be taken addressed in the ongoing development of AudioMORPH since it is a critical concern for auditory interfaces.
Blattner, M., Sumikawa, D. & Greenberg, R. (1989), Earcons and icons: Their Structure and Common Design Principles. Human-Computer Interaction, 4, 11-44.
Gaver, W. W. (1986). Auditory Icons: Using Sound in Computer Interfaces. Human-Computer Interaction 2, 11-44.
Mynatt, E. (1992). Auditory Presentation of Graphical User Interfaces. Proceedings of The 1992 International Conference on Auditory Display, 1-18.
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