Abstract: " This paper describes work to provide mappings between X-based graphical interfaces and auditory interfaces. In our system, dubbed Mercator, this mapping is transparent to applications. The primary motivation for this work is to provide accessibility to graphical applications for users who are blind or visually impaired. In this paper, I describe the design of an auditory interface which simulates many of the features of graphical interfaces. Some of these features have been evaluated in a small user study. I will present lessons learned from this study as well as discuss areas for further work."

Auditory User Interfaces: Toward the Speaking Computer describes a speech-enabling approach that separates computation from the user interface and integrates speech into the human-computer interaction. The Auditory User Interface (AUI) works directly with the computational core of the application, the same as the Graphical User Interface. The author's approach is implemented in two large systems, ASTER - a computing system that produces high-quality interactive aural renderings of electronic documents - and Emacspeak - a fully-fledged speech interface to workstations, including fluent spoken access to the World Wide Web and many desktop applications. Using this approach, developers can design new high-quality AUIs. Auditory interfaces are presented using concrete examples that have been implemented on an electronic desktop. This aural desktop system enables applications to produce auditory output using the same information used for conventional visual output. Auditory User Interfaces: Toward the Speaking Computer is for the electrical and computer engineering professional in the field of computer/human interface design. It will also be of interest to academic and industrial researchers, and engineers designing and implementing computer systems that speak. Communication devices such as hand-held computers, smart telephones, talking web browsers, and others will need to incorporate speech-enabling interfaces to be effective.

Auditory Interfaces explores how human-computer interactions can be significantly enhanced through the improved use of the audio channel. Providing historical, theoretical and practical perspectives, the book begins with an introductory overview, before presenting cutting-edge research with chapters on embodied music recognition, nonspeech audio, and user interfaces. This book will be of interest to advanced students, researchers and professionals working in a range of fields, from audio sound systems, to human-computer interaction and computer science.

The contemporary design practice known as data sonification allows us to experience information in data by listening. In doing so, we understand the source of the data in ways that support, and in some cases surpass, our ability to do so visually. In order to assist us in negotiating our environments, our senses have evolved differently. Our hearing affords us unparalleled temporal and locational precision. Biological survival has determined that the ears lead the eyes. For all moving creatures, in situations where sight is obscured, spatial auditory clarity plays a vital survival role in determining both from where the predator is approaching or to where the prey has escaped. So, when designing methods that enable listeners to extract information from data, both with and without visual support, different approaches are necessary. A scholarly yet approachable work by one of the recognized leaders in the field of auditory design, this book will - Lead you through some salient historical examples of how non-speech sounds have been used to inform and control people since ancient times. - Comprehensively summarize the contemporary practice of Data Sonification. - Provide a detailed overview of what information is and how our auditory perceptions can be used to enhance our knowledge of the source of data. - Show the importance of the dynamic relationships between hearing, cognitive load, comprehension, embodied knowledge and perceptual truth. - Discuss the role of aesthetics in the dynamic interplay between listenability and clarity. - Provide a mature software framework that supports the practice of data sonification design, together with a detailed discussion of some of the design principles used in various examples. David Worrall is an internationally recognized composer, sound artist and interdisciplinary researcher in the field of auditory design. He is Professor of Audio Arts and Acoustics at Columbia College Chicago and a former elected president of the International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD), the leading organization in the field since its inception over 25 years ago. Code and audio examples for this book are available at https://github.com/david-worrall/springer/ Here is an excellent review of the book by Dr Gregory Kramer: “Worrall proceeds bravely through the trees and vines of philosophy, information theory, aesthetics, and other contributors to sonification design theory. It’s a feat. He nails all of this down with the specific implementation system he’s designed over many years, and applies his theories to specific problems. In a field of research still in its first half century and setting its bearings in a world where human perception has become a sideshow to machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence, the roots David provides will serve well.” Dr Gregory Kramer is the founding figure in the emerging field of sonification, founded the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD) and editor of the first book in the field, "Auditory Display: Sonification, Audification and Auditory Interfaces" (Addison Wesley, 1994).

The theme of the 1997 INTERACT conference, 'Discovering New Worlds ofHCI', signals major changes that are taking place with the expansion of new technologies into fresh areas of work and leisure throughout the world and new pervasive, powerful systems based on multimedia and the internet. HCI has a vital role to play in these new worlds, to ensure that people using the new technologies are empowered rather than subjugated to the technology that they increasingly have to use. In addition, outcomes from HCI research studies over the past 20 years are now finding their way into many organisations and helping to improve and enhance work practices. These factors have strongly influenced the INTERACT'97 Committee when creating the conference programme, with the result that, besides the more traditional HCI research and education focus found in previous INTERACT conferences, one strand of the 1997 conference has been devoted to industry and another to multimedia. The growth in the IFIP TCI3 committee itself reflects the expansion ofHCI into new worlds. Membership oflFIP TC13 has risen to now include representatives of 24 IFIP member country societies from many parts of the world. In 1997, IFIP TCl3 breaks new ground by holding its sixth INTERACT conference in the Asia-Pacific region. This is a significant departure from previous INTERACT conferences, that were all held in Europe, and is especially important for the Asia-Pacific region, as HCI expands beyond its traditional base.

The Graphical User Interface (GUI), as the most prevailing type of User Interface (UI) in today's interactive applications, restricts the interaction with a computer to the visual modality and is therefore not suited for some users (e.g., with limited literacy or typing skills), in some circumstances (e.g., while moving around, with their hands or eyes busy) or when the environment is constrained (e.g., the keyboard and the mouse are not available). In order to go beyond the GUI constraints, the Multimodal (MM) UIs apear as paradigm that provide users with great expressive power, naturalness and flexibility. In this thesis we argue that developing MM UIs combining graphical and vocal modalities is an activity that could benefit from the application of a methodology which is composed of: a set of models, a method manipulating these models and the tools implementing the method. Therefore, we define a design space-based method that is supported by model-to-model colored transformations in order to obtain MM UIs of information systems. The design space is composed of explicitly defined design options that clarify the development process in a structured way in order to require less design effort. The feasability of the methodology is demonstrated through three case studies with different levels of complexity and coverage. In addition, an empirical study is conducted with end-users in order to measure the relative usability level provided by different design decisions.