Owli-AI Logo Owli-AI
Menu

Owli-AI Research

Ultrasonic Waves to Support Human Echolocation

HCII (2018) - Paper

Florian von Zabiensky; Michael Kreutzer; Diethelm Bienhaus

Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen, University of Applied Sciences, Giessen, Germany

Notice: this page was machine-translated and is pending editorial review.

Visual

Photo of the AHRUS prototype with ultrasound transducer array.
AHRUS prototype from the HCII paper.

Abstract

This paper presents AHRUS, a system that uses parametric ultrasound to make environmental information audible for people with visual impairment or blindness. Through self-demodulation, directional properties of ultrasound are preserved so signals can be perceived with the user's own ears. The contribution describes the technical setup of a prototype and initial usage concepts. In an initial evaluation with four participants, the system was tested in practice. Compared with classic flash-sonar echolocation, the approach shows advantages for small structures and for the stealth issue of smooth surfaces.

Keywords

  • Human Echo Localization
  • Audible Ultrasound Sonar
  • Blind People
  • Spatial Hearing
  • Obstacle Detection

Download

Download PDF Back View project

Figures

13 visuals from the paper.

  1. Schematic view of a sound source moving in azimuth and elevation.
    Fig. 1 Overall directional representation.
  2. Detailed azimuth view with lateral sound source movement.
    Fig. 1 Detail left (azimuth).
  3. Detailed elevation view with vertical sound source movement.
    Fig. 1 Detail right (elevation).
  4. Principle diagram of self-demodulation of modulated ultrasound in air.
    Fig. 2 Principle of ultrasound demodulation.
  5. Photo of the AHRUS prototype with housing and transducer array.
    Fig. 3 Prototype implementation.
  6. Detailed photo of the circular transducer array on the AHRUS prototype.
    Fig. 3 Transducer array detail.
  7. Block diagram with DSP, configuration, Bluetooth, and ultrasound transducers.
    Fig. 4 AHRUS system design overview.
  8. Bar chart on perception of distance, direction, and boundary zones in four participants.
    Fig. 5 Results for distance, direction, and boundary perception.
  9. Bar chart on distance threshold in obstacle detection for column and car.
    Fig. 6 Distance threshold in obstacle detection.
  10. Bar chart on deviation in obstacle width estimation.
    Fig. 7 Obstacle width estimation.
  11. Comparison of sound intensity and directivity of tongue click and AHRUS.
    Fig. 8 Overall comparison of directivity.
  12. Detail view of broad sound radiation of a tongue click in flash sonar.
    Fig. 8 Detail left (flash sonar).
  13. Detail view of focused sound radiation in the AHRUS system.
    Fig. 8 Detail right (AHRUS).

BibTeX

@inproceedings{vonzabiensky2018ahrus,
  title = {Ultrasonic Waves to Support Human Echolocation},
  author = {von Zabiensky, Florian and Kreutzer, Michael and Bienhaus, Diethelm},
  booktitle = {HCII},
  year = {2018}
}

Additional notes

Further reading: Go to the AHRUS project