“The picture is hanging crooked.” This is a famous quote from a no less famous episode from 1976 from the work of Vicco von Bülow. It was filmed and broadcast by Radio Bremen at the time, so it fits very well that researchers at the University of Bremen have developed an acoustic spirit level. The app called Tiltification is available free of charge for Android and iOS.

Dr. Tim Ziemer from the Bremen Spatial Cognition Center (BSCC) explains that, for example, a table can be aligned horizontally by placing the smartphone on it. “In addition to a graphic representation, Tiltification also uses sound to communicate the two angles of the cell phone.” It uses the sensors that are built into almost every smartphone.

Parking assistant in surgery

Zimer’s master’s students, who were involved in the development, used psychoacoustic sonification, i.e. the representation of data through sounds. “You may be familiar with a primitive form of sonification from the car’s acoustic parking assistant, which tells you how far away the next obstacle is,” says Ziemer. The sound can carry significantly more information and should in future, for example, navigate surgeons through minimally invasive operations.

Psychoacoustic sonification communicates a three-dimensional coordinate through various pitches and noise. The resolution is hundreds of data points per room dimension at dozen times per second. The app should be suitable for the visually impaired or to align a picture without disruptive graphics while taking a picture. Tiltification continues to run in the background. The free one is supposed to give an insight into the psychoacoustic sonification Curat Sonification Game Offer.

(anw)