Experimental evaluation of binaural recording system using a miniature dummy head

Uchibori, Shunsuke; Sarumaru, Yuki; Ashihara, Kaoru; Ohta, Tatehisa; Hiryu, Shizuko

doi:10.1250/ast.36.42

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…To test this hypothesis, future studies should modify the experimental system, such that the participants can move freely during active sensing and listening to pitch-converted echoes from targets in real time. Binaural sounds recorded using an MDH enabled the participants to obtain 3D sound images outside the head [ 18 ]. Therefore, using an MDH in future experiments may be advantageous because 3D sound images may be effectively used for active sensing of targets during movement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The previous study examined the applicability of a bat-inspired signal design in human echolocation. The pitch of binaural echoes was down-converted after a miniature dummy head (MDH) [ 18 ] captured echoes, because there were high-frequency signals of up to 35 kHz. The pitch-converted binaural echoes were then presented to the participants of the previous study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effectiveness of time-varying echo information for target geometry identification in bat-inspired human echolocation

et al. 2021

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Bats use echolocation through flexible active sensing via ultrasounds to identify environments suitable for their habitat and foraging. Mimicking the sensing strategies of bats for echolocation, this study examined how humans acquire new acoustic-sensing abilities, and proposes effective strategies for humans. A target geometry identification experiment—involving 15 sighted people without experience of echolocation—was conducted using two targets with different geometries, based on a new sensing system. Broadband frequency-modulated pulses with short inter-pulse intervals (16 ms) were used as a synthetic echolocation signal. Such pulses mimic buzz signals emitted by bats for echolocation prior to capturing their prey. The study participants emitted the signal from a loudspeaker by tapping on Android devices. Because the signal included high-frequency signals up to 41 kHz, the emitted signal and echoes from a stationary or rotating target were recorded using a 1/7-scaled miniature dummy head. Binaural sounds, whose pitch was down-converted, were presented through headphones. This way, time-varying echo information was made available as an acoustic cue for target geometry identification under a rotating condition, as opposed to a stationary one. In both trials, with (i.e., training trials) and without (i.e., test trials) answer feedback immediately after the participants answered, the participants identified the geometries under the rotating condition. Majority of the participants reported using time-varying patterns in terms of echo intensity, timbre, and/or pitch under the rotating condition. The results suggest that using time-varying patterns in echo intensity, timbre, and/or pitch enables humans to identify target geometries. However, performance significantly differed by condition (i.e., stationary vs. rotating) only in the test trials. This difference suggests that time-varying echo information is effective for identifying target geometry through human echolocation especially when echolocators are unable to obtain answer feedback during sensing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of time-varying echo information for target geometry identification in bat-inspired human echolocation

et al. 2021

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“…On the other hand, inspired by echolocation in bats, researchers have studied to apply ultrasonic echolocation to humans [14], [17], [20], [21]. Sohl-Dickstein et al developed a system that transmits ultrasonic signals and converts the echoes into audible sound, enabling recognition of distance from objects and presence/absence of obstacles [20].…”

Section: Related Work a Echolocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although they use the audible sound they make (e.g., clicking noises with mouth and tapping their canes) for echolocation, it is reported that ultrasonic echolocation has advantages, such as the higher resolution of object sensing, the clicking sound that cannot be heard to surroundings, and ease of extraction from background sounds [14]; however, humans cannot make and hear the ultrasound with their original ability.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, we can utilize ML along with ultrasonic echolocation because the captured ultrasound is processed in the device. In the previous study of echolocation, they focus on interpreting the sensory perception of "seeing by sound" in echolocating bats and proposing an effective and practical manner of operation in human echolocation [14], [17]; thus, they do not consider ML.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Human-Machine Cooperative Echolocation Using Ultrasound

2022

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Echolocation has been shown to improve the independence of visually impaired people, and using ultrasound in echolocation has more advantages, e.g., higher resolution of object sensing and ease of extraction from background sounds. However, humans cannot make and hear the ultrasound by their original ability. A wearable device enables ultrasonic echolocation, i.e., transmitting ultrasound by an ultrasonic speaker and converting the reflected ultrasound into audible sound. At the same time, the system can recognize the objects using machine learning (ML) and assist the user. Therefore, in this paper, we propose cooperative echolocation that combines the recognition by humans and ML. As the first step toward cooperative echolocation, this paper presents the effectiveness of ML in echolocation. We implemented a prototype device and evaluated the performance of object detection with/without ML. The results showed that the required time for object detection was reduced by 35.8% and the mental workload was significantly decreased by ML. Based on the findings from the evaluation, we discussed the design of cooperative echolocation.

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Bat-inspired signal design for target discrimination in human echolocation

Sumiya

Ashihara

Yoshino

et al. 2019

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Echolocating bats exhibit sophisticated sonar behaviors using ultrasounds with actively adjusted acoustic characteristics (e.g., frequency and time-frequency structure) depending on the situation. In this study, the utility of ultrasound in human echolocation was examined. By listening to ultrasonic echoes with a shifted pitch to be audible, the participants (i.e., sighted echolocation novices) could discriminate the three-dimensional (3D) roundness of edge contours. This finding suggests that sounds with suitable wavelengths (i.e., ultrasounds) can provide useful information about 3D shapes. In addition, the shape, texture, and material discrimination experiments were conducted using ultrasonic echoes binaurally measured with a 1/7 scaled miniature dummy head. The acoustic and statistical analyses showed that intensity and timbre cues were useful for shape and texture discriminations, respectively. Furthermore, in the discrimination of objects with various features (e.g., acrylic board and artificial grass), the perceptual distances between objects were more dispersed when frequency-modulated sweep signals were used than when a constant-frequency signal was used. These suggest that suitable signal design, i.e., echolocation sounds employed by bats, allowed echolocation novices to discriminate the 3D shape and texture. This top-down approach using human subjects may be able to efficiently help interpret the sensory perception, “seeing by sound,” in bat biosonar.

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Experimental evaluation of binaural recording system using a miniature dummy head

Cited by 5 publications

References 13 publications

Effectiveness of time-varying echo information for target geometry identification in bat-inspired human echolocation

Effectiveness of time-varying echo information for target geometry identification in bat-inspired human echolocation

Human-Machine Cooperative Echolocation Using Ultrasound

Bat-inspired signal design for target discrimination in human echolocation

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