Oh music, where art thou?

Oh music, where art thou?

The “Oh music, where art thou?”-concept provides the user with a novel way to navigate in unknown urban environments based on 3D-audio. By using the difference in volume between the detection of sound in both human ears, the concept can produce sound and music that seem to come from a certain direction, leading the user to that perceived fictional source of sound. The project can be defined as a broad study about using sound for general navigational purposes. The concept has been implemented in a prototype and evaluated in a series of user tests. The results indicate a hopeful future for mobile audio based navigation. Furthermore some possible applications were explored including a navigation system for cyclists, a music based running aid for recreational runners, allowing the system to automatically create a route for the runner according to the users general preferences. This project was the result of teamwork with Daniel Tetteroo, Matthijs Zwinderman and Tanya Zavyalova. Afterwards a full working Android application was developed which can be downloaded for free in the Android market. You can find more information about the project on om-wat.com.