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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    sound as a user inteface tool
From:       "Justin Ryan Nevitt" <jrn5a () cms ! mail ! virginia ! edu>
Date:       2004-07-22 17:26:12
Message-ID: web-91451467 () cgatepro-3 ! mail ! virginia ! edu
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I've submitted this idea to various places because I do 
not know where it belongs.  That said, the idea of 
attention management through sound is nothing new...but I 
believe that it has only been implemented on the 
per-application level.

Proposal: Sound Localization Sound Layer

Introduction
	It has been shown in many different studies that users 
are more efficient in a multi-task environment where sound 
is used to direct their attention.  This is especially 
true in immersive environments such as airplane cockpits 
and so called ?information cockpits?.  For example a pilot 
benefits greatly from hearing alerts, which seem to come 
from the object that needs attention. Similarly, there are 
business and home applications for this type of attention 
management.  For instance an alert could direct you to the 
physical location of your mailbox when you have a new 
message or it could alert you to a window containing a 
rapidly climbing stock price.

The idea:
	The idea for this project is to create a sound 
layer/plugin that brings sound localization type attention 
management to the everyday PC.  This layer should be made 
to work on linux and windows machines and will be GPLed.

Implementation:
	The implementation of this idea should be fairly 
straightforward.  At its simplest level the layer will 
take information about application or icon location and 
modify the panning of sound output to direct attention to 
particular areas of the desktop.  The application should 
be no harder to write than a simple mixer (although it 
should be able to play sounds at different panning 
locations at the same time.)  The program should also have 
a tiny memory footprint.
	Additional adjustable parameters:
		Intensity of panning
		Individual application settings
			People probably will not want their music to be 
localized
		Should be easy to turn on and off (tray icon possibly)
		Turn real time panning on and off
If someone moves a window while it is creating sound will 
the panning move with it or will it reset only after the 
window is dropped?


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