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The
Creation,
Presentation, and
Implications of
Selected
Auditory
Illusions
Scott
Flinn and
Kellogg
S.
Booth
Computer Science Technical Report, May 1995
TR-95-15
ABSTRACT
This report describes the initial phase of a project whose goal is
to produce a rich acoustic environment in which the behaviour of
multiple independent activities is communicated through
perceptually distinguishable auditory streams. While much is
known about the perception of isolated auditory phenomena, there
are few general guidelines for the selection of auditory elements
that can be composed to achieve a display that is effective in
situations where the ambient acoustic conditions are
uncontrolled. Several auditory illusions and effects are
described in the areas of relative pitch discrimination,
perception of auditory streams, and the natural association of
visual and auditory stimuli. The effects have been evaluated
informally through a set of demonstration programs that have been
presented to a large and varied audience. Each auditory effect is
introduced, suggestions for an effective demonstration are given,
and our experience with the demonstration program is summarized.
Implementation issues relevant to the reproduction of these
effects on other platforms are also discussed. We conclude by
describing several experiments aimed at resolving issues raised by
our experience with these effects.