Using 3D printing to improve access to graphics by vision-impaired people. This project aims to investigate the possible benefits of 3D printing for production of accessible materials for vision-impaired people. Currently tactile graphics are used to provide severely vision-impaired adults and children with access to graphical content used in education and in orientation and mobility training. This project is expected to clarify the kinds of graphics for which 3D prints are better suited than ta ....Using 3D printing to improve access to graphics by vision-impaired people. This project aims to investigate the possible benefits of 3D printing for production of accessible materials for vision-impaired people. Currently tactile graphics are used to provide severely vision-impaired adults and children with access to graphical content used in education and in orientation and mobility training. This project is expected to clarify the kinds of graphics for which 3D prints are better suited than tactile graphics, and to build capacity within the national accessible format provision sector for the production and use of 3D prints. Benefits will include increased educational opportunities and quality of life for Australians with severe vision impairment, through improved access to graphic materials used in education and orientation and mobility training.
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New information access technologies for people with intellectual disability. New information access technologies for people with intellectual disability. This project aims to co-design a social, interactive and visual internet search interface for people with intellectual disability. Enabling choice and independence is key to the new National Disability Insurance Scheme, but people with intellectual disability are effectively excluded from much of the Web. This project will investigate ways to a ....New information access technologies for people with intellectual disability. New information access technologies for people with intellectual disability. This project aims to co-design a social, interactive and visual internet search interface for people with intellectual disability. Enabling choice and independence is key to the new National Disability Insurance Scheme, but people with intellectual disability are effectively excluded from much of the Web. This project will investigate ways to access and provide information using technologies such as interactive avatars, virtual worlds and trusted social support. New interfaces will enable people with intellectual disability to inform themselves, make choices and foster their social inclusion. Expected outcomes are new search interface technology, a theoretical framework and new Web accessibility guidelines.Read moreRead less
Designing for visual and auditory attention in complex high-tempo worlds. This research addresses the national priority of developing frontier technologies through smart information use. Advanced display technologies are positioned for rapid uptake in many sectors of the economy but are not fully tested. Results of our research will generalise to manufacturing, defence, aviation, and medicine. Given the focus on anaesthesia in this proposal, our research may help to make anaesthesia safer for pa ....Designing for visual and auditory attention in complex high-tempo worlds. This research addresses the national priority of developing frontier technologies through smart information use. Advanced display technologies are positioned for rapid uptake in many sectors of the economy but are not fully tested. Results of our research will generalise to manufacturing, defence, aviation, and medicine. Given the focus on anaesthesia in this proposal, our research may help to make anaesthesia safer for patients and easier for anaesthetists to administer. With this research, an Australian group will enhance its international lead in the area of innovative interfaces for safety critical applications. The proposed research should lead to further inventions that have the potential to benefit Australian industry.Read moreRead less
How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages ....How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages and in affective communication, facilitate links between neurophysiological processes and auditory-visual speech processing; and contribute to applications in automatic person recognition, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech systems, and talking head aids for the hearing impaired.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354596
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems. Auditory scenes are temporal and ephemeral yet pervasively influence human life. How humans negotiate such scenes has not been solved, a fact highlighted by attempts to build machines to respond to speech, warnings etc., in real-world situations with room reverberation, different talkers, and background noise. No one discipline can solve such problems. In this network outstanding researche ....Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems. Auditory scenes are temporal and ephemeral yet pervasively influence human life. How humans negotiate such scenes has not been solved, a fact highlighted by attempts to build machines to respond to speech, warnings etc., in real-world situations with room reverberation, different talkers, and background noise. No one discipline can solve such problems. In this network outstanding researchers from physical, medical, human, and social sciences with interests in speech, music and audition will provide insights into how humans and machines localize, recognize, interpret and produce auditory events, and advance frontier technologies, e.g., automatic speech recognition, hearing prostheses, auditory monitoring/warning systems.Read moreRead less
Sonification for complex, mission-critical work environments. Human operators must often pay attention to an immediate task while monitoring background information, but intrusive alarms often capture operators' attention inappropriately. We investigate how continuous auditory information ("sonification") can provide low-level background information when all is normal, yet capture attention to abnormalities only when needed. The results of three experiments will determine the most effective combi ....Sonification for complex, mission-critical work environments. Human operators must often pay attention to an immediate task while monitoring background information, but intrusive alarms often capture operators' attention inappropriately. We investigate how continuous auditory information ("sonification") can provide low-level background information when all is normal, yet capture attention to abnormalities only when needed. The results of three experiments will determine the most effective combination of visual and auditory information delivery; how well sonification captures attention when needed; and whether sonification captures attention to deviations from expected changes. Our findings will help establish principles of attentional mapping that significantly extend current approaches to interactive systems design.Read moreRead less
Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research wi ....Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research will examine the extent to which filtering out these camouflaging frequencies enhances our sensitivity to low temporal frequency information. This decamouflaging aspect of my research is expected to improve the clarity of digital video-based technologies including ultrasound, educational, info-tainment and defence applicationsRead moreRead less
A Scalable Theory of Behavior Composition for Practical Engineering Models of Human Performance. Minimizing human error and maximizing human performance is a major design goal in safety critical systems. The development of methods for affordable human performance modeling has widespread applicability for evaluating user-system interfaces. The compositional method explored here has been shown to make accurate predictions reduce model development time by an order of magnitude. Large safety critica ....A Scalable Theory of Behavior Composition for Practical Engineering Models of Human Performance. Minimizing human error and maximizing human performance is a major design goal in safety critical systems. The development of methods for affordable human performance modeling has widespread applicability for evaluating user-system interfaces. The compositional method explored here has been shown to make accurate predictions reduce model development time by an order of magnitude. Large safety critical applications, such as military or air traffic control systems, would benefit greatly. The proposed work tests whether the compositional methods will scale to more complex domains. The work will be coordinated with Australian industry, academia, and government research efforts.Read moreRead less
Broadcasting 3D Audio: Recording, Transmission, and Playback. With the current state of the art, a performance at the Sydney Opera House cannot be recorded and broadcast such that you can listen to it as if you are in the best seat of the house. The goal of our project is to develop the ultimate form of multi-channel audio broadcasting to create this experience. We will develop and implement effective systems for recording, broadcasting and playback of 3D audio in three different scenarios: indi ....Broadcasting 3D Audio: Recording, Transmission, and Playback. With the current state of the art, a performance at the Sydney Opera House cannot be recorded and broadcast such that you can listen to it as if you are in the best seat of the house. The goal of our project is to develop the ultimate form of multi-channel audio broadcasting to create this experience. We will develop and implement effective systems for recording, broadcasting and playback of 3D audio in three different scenarios: individual headphone reproduction; small loudspeaker array reproduction; and large loudspeaker array reproduction. We will create optimal recording techniques and broadcasting software for each of these playback techniques.Read moreRead less
Acquiring physical skills: exploiting games technology to teach sign language. This project will investigate if games technology can be used to teach deaf children’s parents sign language. The learner would create a sign, the system would assess the accuracy of the sign and provide feedback to improve learning. If successful, the system would provide an inexpensive alternative to learning sign language.