Interactive sonification of choropleth maps

Author

Zhao, Haixia ; Smith, Benjamin K. ; Norman, Kent ; Plaisant, Catherine ; Shneiderman, Ben

Author_Institution

Maryland Univ., Baltimore, MD, USA

Volume

12

Issue

2

fYear

2005

Firstpage

26

Lastpage

35

Abstract

Auditory information is an important channel for the visually impaired. Effective sonification (the use of non-speech audio to convey information) promotes equal working opportunities for people with vision impairments by helping them explore data collections for problem solving and decision making. Interactive sonification systems can make georeferenced data accessible to people with vision impairments. The authors compare methods for using sound to encode georeferenced data patterns and for navigating maps.

Keywords

audio signal processing; audio user interfaces; cartography; handicapped aids; interactive systems; auditory information; choropleth maps; data collections; decision making; georeferenced data; interactive sonification; nonspeech audio; problem solving; vision impairments; Decision making; Feedback; Guidelines; Hardware; Humans; Information resources; Navigation; Problem-solving; US Government; World Wide Web; Auditory (non-speech) feedback; evaluation; interaction style; sound; universal usability; user interfaces;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

MultiMedia, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-986X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MMUL.2005.28

Filename

1423931