A testbed for auralization of graphic art

Sonification is the use of non-speech audio to convey information and auralization, a similar but distinct area, is an aural metaphor for visualization - the process by which objects and scenes are interpreted by the human visual system. A fundamental goal of this study is to produce a mechanism by which the visually impaired can experience the artistic content of images using an alternate modality, hearing. In this project, the auralization of images using music is explored. A software algorithm to map pixel data from images to corresponding sound sequences is presented. This conversion is based on a frequency relationship that exists between color and sound in human perception. For example, the frequency of the G tone at 392 Hz, 40 times redoubled (octaved), delivers the frequency of the color red (431 /spl times/ 10/sup 12/ Hz). In addition, the volume of the mapped sounds is used to represent color intensity.