Manipulatable Auditory Perception in Wearable Computing

Abstract

We proposed a framework to manipulate auditory perception. Since auditory perception is passive sense, we often do not notice important information and acquire unimportant information. In this study, we focused on earphone-type wearable computers (hearable devices) that not only have speakers but also microphones. In a hearable computing environment, we always attach microphones and speakers to the ears. Therefore, we can manipulate our auditory perception using a hearable device. We manipulated the frequency of the input sound from the microphones and transmitted the converted sound from the speakers. Thus, we could acquire the sound that is not heard with our normal auditory perception and eliminate the unwanted sound according to the user's requirements. We devised five types of frequency-manipulating techniques and implemented a prototype device. Moreover, we proposed seven assumed applications that can be realized by the proposed method.