TouchingSpace360 · An innovative touch-sound technology to provide 360-degree spatial location and content

Digital interfaces & virtual reality (VR) are expected to penetrate more and more aspects of our everyday lives, from the domain of education, to entertainment, to wellness and even medicine. While impressive advancements have been made in visual display for smartphones and visual technology for representing 3D space in VR, the ability to do so via audio (particularly in the back and the vertical dimensions) remains very limited. Following an initial implementation developed under the NovelExperisense ERC grant (PI: Amedi), we present a novel (and patent pending) auditory-tactile method for simulating spatial localization of auditory content (such as speech, environmental sounds, movement in 3D, and more) through touch. This unique method can enhance accessibility for the hearing impaired and improve the overall VR experience for any individual in a wide range of applications. Here we suggest a line of experiments, further R&D and commercialization path for this intriguing and promising technology.