Sound-Guided 2-D Navigation: Effects of Information Concurrency and Coordinate System

Abstract

Auditory guidance conveying positional information through concurrent variations in properties of synthesized sound has previously been investigated. Auditory guidance may be more effective if multidimensional tasks are divided into unidimensional tasks where the user sequentially tackles each dimension and sound property. User performance may also depend on the coordinate system used for providing guidance. We compared concurrent and sequential guidance presentations in Cartesian and polar coordinate systems in a computer-based 2-D target-finding experiment with 15 participants. Sequential guidance was superior regarding completion time and number of interruptions with less cognitive burden than concurrent guidance. Participants were slower with the polar coordinate system than the Cartesian. These findings can contribute to the development of more efficacious guidance systems.CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in interaction design; Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; • Applied computing → Sound and music computing.