Perception and replication of planar sonic gestures

As tables, boards, and walls become surfaces where interaction can be supported by auditory displays, it becomes important to know how accurately and effectively a spatial gesture can be rendered by means of an array of loudspeakers embedded in the surface. Two experiments were designed and performed to assess: (i) how sequences of sound pulses are perceived as gestures when the pulses are distributed in space and time along a line; (ii) how the timing of pulses affects the perceived and reproduced continuity of sequences; and (iii) how effectively a second parallel row of speakers can extend sonic gestures to a two-dimensional space. Results show that azimuthal trajectories can be effectively replicated and that switching between discrete and continuous gestures occurs within the range of inter-pulse interval from 75 to 300ms. The vertical component of sonic gestures cannot be reliably replicated.