Sound synthesis for the orientation of blind people

For some time now, there have been multiple efforts to develop an optimal orientation aid for visually impaired and blind people in order to promote their spatial mobility. The focus is on auditory displays and their use, which have been used in innovative user interfaces for decades and have been extensively researched. The OIWOB project developed a prototype assistance system for blind and visually impaired road users that collects important information about obstacles and communicates it to the user via audio signals. As part of this study, a sonification method was designed, implemented and evaluated for the above-mentioned prototype using listening tests. Based on nine object classes from a previous study, various sounds were generated using frequency modulation sound synthesis. Seven of these were tested in listening tests with twenty test subjects using a hearing simulator with dynamic auralisation.