Plans For This Evening
Proof of concept: description and self-assessment of the sound environment in open spaces. A first step towards the development of an inclusive technology for planning and accessing activities outside the home during free time
Phase 2
Type of project: Prototype
Disability concerned: Autism and pervasive developmental disorders, hearing disability, mental disability, psychological disability, visual disability, all disabilities can be concerned. The project is aimed at all people with sensory impairments, especially those with hearing impairments. This is particularly the case for many people with autism spectrum disorders.
Theme: Travel
Status: Completed
The aim of this project is to develop and test a technology that can provide personalised and precise information on the sound environments and activities available, based on a user profile.
Many technologies offer descriptions that allow people with a specific cognitive and/or sensory profile to facilitate the planning and realisation of activities in their free time. The indicators used refer mainly to physical accessibility. Sensory characteristics are, for example, rarely if ever documented. Yet this information is identified by the people concerned as being particularly important to know. Indeed, the feeling of familiarity and anticipation are considered to be variables that strongly influence the decision to engage, or not, in the activity. This project aims to develop and test a technology to provide personalised and accurate information about available environments and activities based on a user profile.
Specifically, prototyping consists of creating a database to detail the characteristics of the sound environment. The creation of the prototype is based on three stages. In the first stage, sound recordings were taken in open recreational areas in collaboration with a sound engineer and people with a specific sensory profile. In the second stage, the sounds collected were integrated into a widely distributed online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 61 questions divided into 3 themes. The first questions aimed to describe the respondent’s sensory profile. Then, for each sound (n=5), respondents were asked to describe the sound, identify the pleasant and unpleasant elements and then suggest “surprise” sounds that could potentially appear
In a final step, the responses were used to develop a vertical and horizontal prototype. The horizontal prototype consists of an application offering several functionalities, including: defining one’s sensory profile on the basis of sound testing, finding environments and/or activities corresponding to one’s profile, planning the “sound” journey between one’s place of residence and a desired activity, or immersing oneself in unfamiliar and a priori unappreciated sound environments. The vertical prototype consists of databases referring to movements and activities
Contact
HETSL
Aline Veyre
Aline.veyre@hetsl.ch