Peripheral Sonification by Means of Virtual Room Acoustics

Peripheral interaction is a new approach to conveying information at the periphery of human attention in which sound is so far largely underrepresented. We report on two experiments that explore the concept of sonifying information by adding virtual reverberation to real-world room acoustics. First, to establish proof of concept, we used the consumption of electricity in a kitchen to control its reverberation in real time. The results of a second, in-home experiment showed that at least three levels of information can be conveyed to the listeners with this technique without disturbing a main task being performed simultaneously. This number may be increased for sonifications that are less critical.