Binaural Sound Scenes Creator Supporting The Development Of Spatial Orientation Skills of Blind Individuals

Abstract

This article introduces an approach to automatic generation of binaural sound scenes BSS that describe in auditory form environments for visually impaired individuals. This audio, with descriptions of the city environment, can be beneficial for developing spatial orientation skills among Blind Individuals (BI), especially those who have recently lost their vision and must adapt to new, difficult living conditions. The idea to solve the problem is that artificially generated binaural scenes can simulate situations in which a BI navigates open spaces, such as a city, or large buildings like train stations, airports, and university campuses. Practising these skills in a simulated environment can be less stressful than real-world training. This work describes the development of a specialised application that facilitates the creation of binaural sound scenes from simple monophonic sounds. Several scenes were subsequently generated and then tested by three visually impaired individuals. This testing aimed to determine whether entirely artificially generated sound scenes are a sufficiently robust approach for constructing more complex simulation environments.