Conference Paper

An audio browser for increasing access to world wide web sites for blind and visually impaired computer users.

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... Moreover, the use of a 3D immersive audio environment, which permits to make a sound appear from a given position, may give blind users the sense of object location. This hypothesis which has been validated in our preliminary studies [1,2] have shown that the use of non-speech sound in human-computer interfaces can considerably increase the "bandwidth" of computer output. This is also shown in the work of Stephen A. Brewster [3] or in the studies of Frankie James [4]. ...
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The World Wide Web (WWW) has recently become the main source of digital information accessible everywhere and by everyone. Nevertheless, the inherent visual nature of Internet browsers makes the Web inaccessible to the visually impaired. To solve this problem, non-visual browsers have been developed. One of the new problems, however, with those non-visual browsers is that they often transform the visual content of HTML documents into textual information only, that can be restituted by a text-tospeech converter or a Braille device. The loss of spatial layout, and textual attributes such as boldface, italic, underline, color or even size should be avoided since they often bear visually important information. Moreover, typical non-visual Internet browsers do not allow visually impaired and sighted individuals to easily work together using the same environment. These new problems have to be solved with new alternative non-visual display techniques. This paper presents WebSound, a new gener...
... A preliminary study done at the University of Geneva has shown that the use of non-speech sound in graphical interfaces, particularly for an Internet browser, can considerably increase the "bandwidth" of computer output [1,2]. This is also shown in the work of Stephen A. Brewster [3,4] which provides guidelines for incorporating earcons into the design of humancomputer interfaces, as well as in the studies of Frankie James [5]. ...
Article
Full-text available
The inherent visual nature of Internet browsers makes the Web inaccessible to the visually impaired. Although several nonvisual browsers have been developed, they usually transform the visual content of HTML documents into textual information only, that can be rendered by a text-to-speech converter or a Braille device. The loss of spatial layout and of textual attributes should be avoided since they often bear visually important information. Moreover, typical non-visual Internet browsers do not allow visually impaired and sighted individuals to easily work together using the same environment. This paper presents WebSound, a new generic Web sonification tool and its application to a 3D audio augmented Internet browser (Internet Explorer 5.0) developed by the Computer Vision Group at the University of Geneva.
... The studies of Lumbreras and al. [6] and our earlier work [8,9] validated the hypothesis that a 3D immersive virtual sound environment combined with haptic manipulation and audio feedback, can enable blind users to construct a mental representation of the spatial environment. Therefore, we use as the haptic device, a graphical tablet that provides a direct positioning of the finger in the auditory plane. ...
Article
This paper describes "From Dots to Shapes" (FDTS), an auditory platform composed by three classic games ("Simon", "Point Connecting" and "concentration game") for blind and visually impaired pupils. Each game was adapted to work on a concept of the Euclidean geometry (e.g. ) The tool, , is based on sonic and haptic interaction, and therefore could be used by special educators as a help for teaching basic planar geometry.
Article
In summary, there are many specific problems frequently faced by the blind and visually impaired that are amenable to solutions through appropriate applications of electronics and microcomputer technology. This potential is widely recognized by commercial manufacturers, who have been particularly active in the area of computer-access devices. It is expected that future developments will include continued refinement of synthetic speech applications and braille computer-access technology, increased research into the problems and solutions of orientation and mobility, and increased application of electronics to the reduction of educational and employment barriers for the blind and visually impaired.
New Technologies in the education of the Visually Handicapped
  • D Burger
D. Burger Ed. (1996). New Technologies in the education of the Visually Handicapped. Les Editions INSERM, Paris, FR, Vol. 237