{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T17:15:18Z","timestamp":1774286118800,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,20]],"date-time":"2020-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1595203200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["MTI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study seeks to demonstrate that a navigation system using stereophonic sound technology is effective in supporting visually impaired people in public spaces. In the proposed method, stereophonic sound is produced by a pair of parametric speakers for a person who comes to a specific position, detected by an RGB-D sensor. The sound is a stereophonic earcon representing the target facility. The recipient can intuitively understand the direction of the target facility. The sound is not audible for anyone except for the person being supported and is not noisy. This system is constructed in a shopping mall, and an experiment is conducted, in which the proposed system and guidance by a tactile map lead to a designated facility. As a result, it is confirmed, that the execution time of the proposed method is reduced. It is also confirmed that the proposed method shows higher performance in terms of the average time required to grasp the direction than the tactile map approach. In the actual environment where this system is supposed to be used, the correct answer rate is over 80%. These results suggest that the proposed method can replace the conventional tactile map as a guidance system.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mti4030042","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,20]],"date-time":"2020-07-20T10:59:38Z","timestamp":1595242778000},"page":"42","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Spot-Presentation of Stereophonic Earcons to Assist Navigation for the Visually Impaired"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Yuichi","family":"Mashiba","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ryunosuke","family":"Iwaoka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hisham E.","family":"Bilal Salih","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Masayuki","family":"Kawamoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Headquarters for International Industry-University Collaboration, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naoto","family":"Wakatsuki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Koichi","family":"Mizutani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2339-5298","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Keiichi","family":"Zempo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e888","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(17)30293-0","article-title":"Magnitude, temporal trends, and projections of the global prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"5","author":"Bourne","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet Glob. 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