One of the key discussions of the meeting related to difficulties with locating a object in a 2D space when no visuals are available, which is very common in audio-only games. So combining all the practical work and research compiled to-date, the project will be focusing on discovering effective ways of positioning audio (objects) in a 2D space, with further development towards 3D space. It will involve experiments with assigning variables to the x & y axis which will be used to calculate where the sound is in the 2D space.
Initial thoughts
I have started by splitting the 2D space into a 4x4 grid system, with each individual grid being 80x60 in size. This then creates a 'whack a mole' or 'battleship' type game, where a sound is positioned, heard and removed and the player is required to find this sound using the movement of their hand to search the 2D space. The player will try several versions of the same game, which will make use of different types of audio. The player will be timed, which aims to discover the most accurate method of position and locating a sound in a 2D space.
I am currently creating audio systems in max/msp that can be "figured out". For example, x-axis = Pitch (C,D,E,F) and y-axis = Duration/Length (1, 200, 400 & 800). Testing of three systems will provide answers regarding players ability to find the sound and prompt further changes to the system to acquire the ultimate method of locating sounds in 2D space. I do have a couple of methods that could be regarded as unusual, however until proven unsuccessful they will be pursued as a viable option.
One other thing to note, I have stepped up the search for participants. The list of possible participants is beginning to become a more even mix of visually impaired and able sighted participants.
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