An interaction-based model for auditory substitution of tactile percepts

We refer to channels of communication that link the user to information systems as cognitive communication channels. One especially interesting research topic related to cognitive communication channels deals with a special application called sensory substitution, when information is conveyed through a channel other than the one that is normally used for the given application. Our goal is to develop engineering systems for the remote teleoperation of robots using sensory substitution to convey feedback information in meaningful ways. Such applications could help reduce the cognitive load for the user on the one hand, and help alleviate the effect of control instabilities and network delays on the other. A large part of our research deals with how to provide information on physical parameters - otherwise inaccessible to the remote user - through sound. In this paper, we first propose a model that describes the kinds of pairings between physical and auditory parameters we find meaningful. This is followed by a description of an example application in which auditory signals are used to convey information on tactile perception.