Anylizes Three Audio Games for the Vision Impaired
Mudsplat
X-tune
Jim’s Journey
Different Types of Audio Information
Avatar Sounds
Object Sounds
Character Sounds
Ornamental Sounds
Instructions
—Text discusses how each type of sound is implemented in the game context
Michel Chion [4]. Based on
Pierre Schaeffer’s analyses of sound objects [15]
Three types of listening: (pg 4)
These three listening functions can be combined in their useage.
Casual listening: listening for te source of a sound, and attempting to understand what cause it
Semantic listening: used to understand auditory codes such as speech or Morse code
Reduced listening: evaluationg qualities of a sound without considering its source. Used when appreciating music by listening to pitches, harmonies and rythms.
Auditory Interfaces Interface-an established agreement between the designer and the user
Conclusion
The TiM project intends to demonstrate that sound-based
games do not have to be developed only for players with visual
impairments. When developing audio for any kind of
interactive application, we think that the triangular vocabulary
of sound design, based on Chion’s [4] and McCloud’s
[10] theories, can be a useful model. This system can help
designers of auditory interfaces overview the various types
of information that sound objects can convey. By targeting
more than one listening mode, sounds can carry several
layers of information, resulting in a more multi-faceted and
153 appealing game audio content.
References
[4] M. Chion. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Columbia
University Press, New York, 1994.
[15] P. Schaeffer. Trait des objects musicaux. Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1966.
[24] B. Williamson. Accessing games through sound,
motion and emotion.
http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/art12.htm,
2003.
[25] F. Winberg and S.-O. Hellstr¨om. The quest for
auditory direct manipulation: the sonified towers of
hanoi. In Proceedings of the 3rd International
Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and
Associated Technologies, pages 75–81. ICDVRAT,
September 2000.
[5] W. W. Gaver. What in the world do we hear? an
ecological approach to auditory event perception.
Ecological Psychology, 5(1):1–29, 1993.
[8] D. G¨ardenfors. Designing sound-based computer
games. Digital Creativity, 14(2):111–114, 2003.
Overview
Studies childrens cognitive abilities as applied to ‘programming’ using visual tools.
Quotes
Will these new, highly visual environments succeed in involving children in programming?
KidSirn/Cocoa differs from preceding children’s programming languages, such as Logo and BASIC, in that children “program” in this environment through direct manipulation of pictorial objects. The goal is to provide a very expressive medium for children to engage in creating their own simulations2. The designers believe they have eliminated many of the syntactic and semantic issues that make conventional languages difficult to learn and use. Abstraction
is easier to comprehend because children can create abstract rules by concretely demonstrating what objects should do.
Previous researchers have demonstrated that students
need well-designed instruction over a long period of
time, as well as certain cognitive skills more commonly
associated with the middle school years, to progress beyond
rudimentary programming in a traditional programming
language[lO]. Have the new children’s languages broken
through these barriers to usability?
Some Conclusions of Their Study
l. Experience-based reasoning. As mentioned above,
students tended to believe that objects would behave as
they do in the real world.
2. Anthropomorphism. Children seem to expect the computer
to match pictures the same way they do. For instance,
they would observe that one object is in front of
another, but not notice specifically how many grid
spaces separate the two objects or if one object is also
slightly higher or lower than the other one.
3. Holistic perspective. Children of this age are not used
to decomposing a scenario into actors with behaviors.
For example, one student initially created a single piece
that included the sun, the ocean and a boat.
4. Narrative perspective. Children also tend to visualize a
process as a sequence of pictures. Although they can
create engaging animations in this way, they miss some
of the benefits of doing simulations.
5. Lack of precision in descriptions. Younger children in
particular will say they want an object to move around
rather than designate a direction. They also struggle to
specify exact sequences of events. For instance, the
younger children could not always identify repeating
patterns such as a fish moving in a circle.
References
Repenning, A. and Ambach, J. (1996) Tactile Programming:
A Unified Manipulation Paradigm Supporting
Program Comprehension, Composition and Sharing.
In Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE Symposium on
Visual Lunguages, Boulder, CO, Sept. 3-6, 1996.
358
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstonns: Children, Computers,
and Powerjid Ideas. New York, Basic Books.
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