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Andreas Floros

Ionian University, Department of Audio and Visual Arts, Faculty Member

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Andreas Floros was born in Drama, Greece in 1973. In 1996 he received his engineering degree from the department of electrical and computer engineering, University of Patras, and in 2001 his Ph.D. degree from the same department. His research was mainly focused on digital audio signal processing and conversion techniques for all-digital power amplification methods. He was also involved in research in the area of acoustics. In 2001, he joined the semiconductors industry, where he worked in projects in the area of digital audio delivery over PANs and WLANs, Quality-of-Service, mesh networking, wireless VoIP technologies and lately with audio encoding and compression implementations in embedded processors. During 2003 - 2005 he was a member of a number of IEEE Tasks Groups (such as the 802.11e, .11k and .11s) with voting rights. For a period of three years (2005 - 2008), he was an adjunct professor at the department of informatics, Ionian University. During this period of time he also taught at the postgraduate (MSc) degree "Arts and Technologies of Sound" organized by the dept. of Music Studies, Ionian University. On January 2008, he was appointed in the position of Assistant Professor at the department of Audiovisual Arts, Ionian University in the scientific area of digital audio signal processing. Today, he serves as a Professor at the same department in the scientific field of digital audio algorithms, applications and electroacoustics and as the Dean of the Faculty of Music and Audiovisual Arts. He is also the co- founder of the Audiovisual Signal Processing Laboratory. His current research interests focus on intelligent audio processing and synthesis, audio games and interfaces, augmented reality audio, 3D sound reproduction and affective-driven sound synthesis. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society (currently serving as the Secretary of the AES Greek Section), while he actively participates in the AES Technical Committee on Network Audio Systems and Audio for Games. He is also the Secretary General of the Hellenic Institute of Acoustics.
Phone: +302661087725
Address: Plateia Eleutherias
Palaia Anaktora
49 100 Corfu
Greece

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Reinhold Behringer

Leeds Beckett University

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Andra McCartney

Concordia University (Canada)

University of Edinburgh

Kansas State University

Ignatia / Inge de Waard

The Open University

Nikos Moustakas

Ionian University

Syracuse University

Merve Ayyüce Kızrak, Ph.D.

Bahcesehir University

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

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Papers by Andreas Floros

Speech Puzzles (Spuzzles): Engaging the Reduced, Causal, and Semantic Listening Modes for Puzzle Design in Audio Games

Applied sciences, Apr 30, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more

Affective acoustic ecology

Audio Mostly Conference, 2012

Entropy as a Transitional In-Game Variable

Technologies

The aim of this research is to discover the bond of entropy and the experience of video game imme... more The aim of this research is to discover the bond of entropy and the experience of video game immersion, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interpret the immersive experiences of players and how this bond of entropy and immersion could be transferred on other immersive technologies. The experiment was conducted on a selection of low-entropy scenes in three video games belonging to the genre of interactive drama. Six players were selected as the sample group for this research, based on their playthrough experiences of the games Heavy Rain (2010), Until Dawn (2015) and Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (2019) on the PlayStation platform. By monitoring the levels of entropy and immersion during their playthroughs, this research explores the potential of transferring immersion through the use of entropy from digital games to other immersive technologies. According to the research highlights and through data interpretation, entropy is found to be immensely infl...

An Augmented Reality Audio Live Network for Live Electroacoustic Music Concerts

Waking up in the morning (WUIM): A transmedia project for daily living skills training

Technology and Disability, 2021

BACKGROUND: One of the most serious concerns of parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists is c... more BACKGROUND: One of the most serious concerns of parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists is children’s independent living, particularly of those with special educational needs (SEN). Purpose-built programs for the acquisition of independent living skills are considered a priority in special education settings. The main problem is the inefficacy of detached interventions to meet the needs of as many students as possible. OBJECTIVE: Our response is to create transmedia applications for inclusive learning environments. To this end, we have taken a participatory design approach to develop a project for Daily Living Skills Training by combining special education pedagogies, filmic methods, game design and innovative technologies. In this paper, we present the design and development of Waking up In the Morning (WUIM), and its improvement through user-based and expert-based evaluations by students, therapists and developers. The main research purpose is to confirm if: (1) the final pro...

A Loudness-Based Adaptive Equalization Technique for Subjectively Improved Sound Reproduction

Sound equalization is a common approach for objectively or subjectively defining the reproduction... more Sound equalization is a common approach for objectively or subjectively defining the reproduction level at specific frequency bands. It is also well-known that the human auditory system demonstrates an inner process for sound-weighting. Due to this, the perceived loudness changes with the frequency and the user-defined sound reproduction gain, resulting into a deviation of the intended and the perceived equalization scheme as the sound level changes. In this work we introduce a novel equalization approach that takes into account the above perceptual loudness effect in order to achieve subjectively constant equalization. A series of listening tests shows that the proposed equalization technique is an efficient and listener-preferred alternative for both professional and home audio reproduction applications.

Prediction and Controlling of Auditory Perception in Augmented Environments. A Loudness-Based Dynamic Mixing Technique

Applied Sciences, 2021

At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible f... more At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible for the assignment of a virtual environment to a real one. Legacy ARA mix models have focused on the natural reproduction of the real environment, whereas the virtual environment is simply mixed through fixed gain methods. This study presents a novel approach of a dynamic ARA mix that facilitates a smooth adaptation of the virtual environment to the real one, as well as dynamic control of the virtual audio engine, by taking into account the inherent characteristics of both ARA technology and binaural auditory perception. A prototype feature extraction technique of auditory perception characteristics through a real-time binaural loudness prediction method was used to upgrade the legacy ARA mix model into a dynamic model, which was evaluated through benchmarks and subjective tests and showed encouraging results in terms of functionality and acceptance.

Contemporary Networked Music Applications

Efficient Audio Fingerprint Application Verification Using the Adapted Computational Geometry Algorithm

Computer and Information Science, 2013

An earlier work of the authors introduced an adapted version of the Computational Geometry Algori... more An earlier work of the authors introduced an adapted version of the Computational Geometry Algorithm (CGA) designed to analyse an audio stream and produce a unique coding-independent fingerprint. As the adaptability and the induced calculation load of the proposed algorithm form a key characteristic for multiple applications, our current investigation aims to measure its performance and stability in dynamic, real-time applications, i.e., in large audio library indexing and dynamic audio recognition. In addition, we investigate the fact that context similarity is also evident across fingerprints; hence a number of comparisons are used to explore the possible uses of this highly desirable algorithmic feature.

Contemporary Networked Music Applications - Σύγχρονες Δικτυακές Μουσικές Εφαρμογές, Περιοδικο Online, Πανελλήνιος Σύλλογος Μηχανικών Η/Υ & Πληροφορικής - Online Magazine, Panhellenic Society of Computer Engineers and Computer Scientists

BEADS: A dataset of Binaural Emotionally Annotated Digital Sounds

IISA 2014, The 5th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications, 2014

Emotion recognition from generalized sounds is an interdisciplinary and emerging field of researc... more Emotion recognition from generalized sounds is an interdisciplinary and emerging field of research. A vital requirement for this kind of investigations is the availability of ground truth datasets. Currently, there are 2 freely available datasets of emotionally annotated sounds, which, however, do not include sound evenets (SEs) with manifestation of the spatial location of the source. The latter is an inherent natural component of SEs, since all sound sources in real-world conditions are physically located and perceived somewhere in the listener's surrounding space. In this work we present a novel emotionally annotated sounds dataset consisting of 32 SEs that are spatially rendered using appropriate binaural processing. All SEs in the dataset are available in 5 spatial positions corresponding to source/receiver angles equal to 0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees. We have used the IADS dataset as the initial collection of SEs prior to binaural processing. The annotation measures obtained for the novel binaural dataset demonstrate a significant accordance with the existing IADS dataset, while small ratings declinations illustrate a perceptual adaptation imposed by the more realistic SEs spatial representation.

Investigating Auditory Human-Machine Interaction: Analysis and Classification of Sounds Commonly Used by Consumer Devices

Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their fu... more Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their functionality, such as the start and the end of their operation. This is likely to result in an instantaneous and intuitive auditory human-machine interaction, imputing a semantic content to the sounds used. In this work we investigate sound patterns mapped to "Start" and "End" of operation manifestations and explore the possibility such semantics' perception to be based either on users prior auditory training or on sound patterns that naturally convey appropriate information. To this aim, listening and machine learning tests were conducted. The obtained results indicate a strong relation between acoustic cues and semantics along with no need of prior knowledge for message conveyance.

Sonoids: Interactive Sound Synthesis Driven By Emergent Social Behaviour In The Sonic Domain

Proceedings of the SMC Conferences, Jul 4, 2018

Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms have been extensively employed for generating art in many... more Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms have been extensively employed for generating art in many forms. From image generation to sound design, the self-emergence of structures in such algorithms make them suitable for exploring forms of computational creativity in automated generation of art. This work explores sound synthesis by combining swarm intelligence, user interaction and a novel sonic communication protocol between socially-capable artificial agents. These are termed "Sonoids" and socially behave following the well-known boids algorithm but perceive their environment (positions, velocities and identities of other agents) through sound. For the purposes of the work, the overall sound-synthesis environment is demonstrated as an iOS application that handles the Sonoids movement and sonifies their social interaction. User interaction is additionally allowed, which can modify specific parameters of the sonic communication protocol, leading to rich sonifications that present self-emergent structure.

Music Synthesis Based on Nonlinear Dynamics

Music composition from nonlinear dynamics has been a subject of thorough research, producing inte... more Music composition from nonlinear dynamics has been a subject of thorough research, producing interesting music tracks. Simple chaotic maps or even more complex iterative schemes have been proposed, taking advantage of the “structured spontaneity” of nonlinear dynamics by directly transforming the mathematical objects to musical entities. In this work we examine the music compositions produced by two nonlinear systems in terms of complexity, expressed through the Shannon Information Entropy of their Pitch Class Profiles. We present a methodology to interpret the information obtained by the iterative equation s to several tonal and rhythmic attributes. This methodology is implemented in real-time software. A Graphical User Interface is provided that allows the user to adjust several variables while listening to and observing the derived results.

Emergency Voice/Stress-Level Combined Recognition for Intelligent House Applications

Journal of The Audio Engineering Society, 2012

Legacy technologies for word recognition can benefit from emerging affective voice retrieval, pot... more Legacy technologies for word recognition can benefit from emerging affective voice retrieval, potentially leading to intelligent applications for smart houses enhanced with new features. In this work we introduce the implementation of a system, capable to react to common spoken words, taking into account the estimated vocal stress level, thus allowing the realization of a prioritized, affective aural interaction path. Upon the successful word recognition and the corresponding stress level estimation, the system triggers particular affective-prioritized actions, defined within the application scope of an intelligent home environment. Application results show that the established affective interaction path significantly improves the ambient intelligence provided by an affective vocal sensor that can be easily integrated with any sensor-based home monitoring system.

Accessible electronic games for blind children and young people

British Journal of Educational Technology

Abstract: We present a suite of inclusive games designed to address the needs of people with blin... more Abstract: We present a suite of inclusive games designed to address the needs of people with blindness or low vision. Particularly, through the employment of modern sonification strategies that achieves efficient perceptual representation of the game‐play, several audio‐games with different scenarios and application scope (entertainment and education) were developed and demonstrated. A platform called “Memor‐i studio” that allows nontechnical users (including blind ones under supervision) to create such inclusive games has also been developed. The overall presentation includes the detailed description of the outcome of the evaluation process involved children and young people aged between 7 and 20 years old from the Special Elementary School for the Blind in Athens and the Education and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in Athens, Greece. The description is also extended to include the design framework of Memor‐i studio. The conclusions of this evaluation are unexpectedly encouraging, showing that the specific type of inclusive games genre may be a strong alternative toward the development of accessible games for blind people, providing a secure starting point for future developments on this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bringing Digital Multimedia in Mathematics Education

The increased interest for developing new representation techniques and tools for proving and dem... more The increased interest for developing new representation techniques and tools for proving and demonstrating basic mathematical propositions and concepts is the forefront of educational research worldwide in the area of e-learning for mathematics. Although many novel ideas have been proposed for illustrating basic mathematical (i.e. geometrical) concepts, currently there is a lack of effective methods to dynamically reproduce an alternative representation of the underlying concepts. The proposed approach introduces valuable explanatory tools for efficiently supporting the learning objectives, enabling students to reach the core of each notion. In this work, a digital multimedia methodology is presented which implements the above dynamic representation approach. Recent, state-of-the-art trends in multimedia technology related to modern two or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) object modelling are utilised in order to efficiently reproduce a virtual mathematical environment in which selecte...

Advanced Sound Manipulation in Interactive Multimedia Environments

Multimedia standards, frameworks and models are already well established for generalized presenta... more Multimedia standards, frameworks and models are already well established for generalized presentations. However, the situation is much less advanced for systems, which require the combination of advanced sound-oriented features and capabilities similar to those used to interact with highly demanding visual content. In this respect, current commercial presentation applications have been found lacking, often revealing multifaceted presentation limitations, including lack of sound control and delivery. They rarely offer cross-platform compatibility, provide limited programmability, are restrictive on data-interaction, and only support static WWW-based delivery. To overcome the above-stated deficiencies, a number of innovations are proposed, including the presentation of a combined multimedia framework, supported by a model that describes content-connectivity and stream-synchronization, enabling interaction for all audiovisual data-types included in the system.

Towards Citizen Science for Smart Cities: A Framework for a Collaborative Game of Bird Call Recognition Based on Internet of Sound Practices

ArXiv, 2021

Citizen Science aims to engage people in research activities on important issues related to their... more Citizen Science aims to engage people in research activities on important issues related to their well-being. Smart Cities aim to provide them with services that improve the quality of their life. Both concepts have seen significant growth in the last years, and can be further enhanced by combining their purposes with IoT technologies that allow for dynamic and large-scale communication and interaction. However, exciting and retaining the interest of participants is a key factor for such initiatives. In this paper we suggest that engagement in Citizen Science projects applied on Smart Cities infrastructure can be enhanced through contextual and structural game elements realized through augmented audio interactive mechanisms. Our inter-disciplinary framework is described through the paradigm of a collaborative bird call recognition game, in which users collect and submit audio data, which are then classified and used for augmenting physical space with virtual soundscape maps. We disc...

An Error – Concealment Technique for Wireless Digital Audio Delivery

Real-time digital audio streaming over unreliable wireless IP networks, such as WLANs, encounters... more Real-time digital audio streaming over unreliable wireless IP networks, such as WLANs, encounters playback quality degradation, due to late arrivals or permanent loss of the transmitted packets. In this paper we present a perceptually efficient error concealment technique, which, combined with playback synchronization correction schemes and a high-rate wireless transmission protocol with Qualityof-Service support, can significantly improve the overall audio playback quality of typical multichanel home-theater wireless applications.

Speech Puzzles (Spuzzles): Engaging the Reduced, Causal, and Semantic Listening Modes for Puzzle Design in Audio Games

Applied sciences, Apr 30, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more

Affective acoustic ecology

Audio Mostly Conference, 2012

Entropy as a Transitional In-Game Variable

Technologies

The aim of this research is to discover the bond of entropy and the experience of video game imme... more The aim of this research is to discover the bond of entropy and the experience of video game immersion, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interpret the immersive experiences of players and how this bond of entropy and immersion could be transferred on other immersive technologies. The experiment was conducted on a selection of low-entropy scenes in three video games belonging to the genre of interactive drama. Six players were selected as the sample group for this research, based on their playthrough experiences of the games Heavy Rain (2010), Until Dawn (2015) and Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (2019) on the PlayStation platform. By monitoring the levels of entropy and immersion during their playthroughs, this research explores the potential of transferring immersion through the use of entropy from digital games to other immersive technologies. According to the research highlights and through data interpretation, entropy is found to be immensely infl...

An Augmented Reality Audio Live Network for Live Electroacoustic Music Concerts

Waking up in the morning (WUIM): A transmedia project for daily living skills training

Technology and Disability, 2021

BACKGROUND: One of the most serious concerns of parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists is c... more BACKGROUND: One of the most serious concerns of parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists is children’s independent living, particularly of those with special educational needs (SEN). Purpose-built programs for the acquisition of independent living skills are considered a priority in special education settings. The main problem is the inefficacy of detached interventions to meet the needs of as many students as possible. OBJECTIVE: Our response is to create transmedia applications for inclusive learning environments. To this end, we have taken a participatory design approach to develop a project for Daily Living Skills Training by combining special education pedagogies, filmic methods, game design and innovative technologies. In this paper, we present the design and development of Waking up In the Morning (WUIM), and its improvement through user-based and expert-based evaluations by students, therapists and developers. The main research purpose is to confirm if: (1) the final pro...

A Loudness-Based Adaptive Equalization Technique for Subjectively Improved Sound Reproduction

Sound equalization is a common approach for objectively or subjectively defining the reproduction... more Sound equalization is a common approach for objectively or subjectively defining the reproduction level at specific frequency bands. It is also well-known that the human auditory system demonstrates an inner process for sound-weighting. Due to this, the perceived loudness changes with the frequency and the user-defined sound reproduction gain, resulting into a deviation of the intended and the perceived equalization scheme as the sound level changes. In this work we introduce a novel equalization approach that takes into account the above perceptual loudness effect in order to achieve subjectively constant equalization. A series of listening tests shows that the proposed equalization technique is an efficient and listener-preferred alternative for both professional and home audio reproduction applications.

Prediction and Controlling of Auditory Perception in Augmented Environments. A Loudness-Based Dynamic Mixing Technique

Applied Sciences, 2021

At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible f... more At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible for the assignment of a virtual environment to a real one. Legacy ARA mix models have focused on the natural reproduction of the real environment, whereas the virtual environment is simply mixed through fixed gain methods. This study presents a novel approach of a dynamic ARA mix that facilitates a smooth adaptation of the virtual environment to the real one, as well as dynamic control of the virtual audio engine, by taking into account the inherent characteristics of both ARA technology and binaural auditory perception. A prototype feature extraction technique of auditory perception characteristics through a real-time binaural loudness prediction method was used to upgrade the legacy ARA mix model into a dynamic model, which was evaluated through benchmarks and subjective tests and showed encouraging results in terms of functionality and acceptance.

Contemporary Networked Music Applications

Efficient Audio Fingerprint Application Verification Using the Adapted Computational Geometry Algorithm

Computer and Information Science, 2013

An earlier work of the authors introduced an adapted version of the Computational Geometry Algori... more An earlier work of the authors introduced an adapted version of the Computational Geometry Algorithm (CGA) designed to analyse an audio stream and produce a unique coding-independent fingerprint. As the adaptability and the induced calculation load of the proposed algorithm form a key characteristic for multiple applications, our current investigation aims to measure its performance and stability in dynamic, real-time applications, i.e., in large audio library indexing and dynamic audio recognition. In addition, we investigate the fact that context similarity is also evident across fingerprints; hence a number of comparisons are used to explore the possible uses of this highly desirable algorithmic feature.

Contemporary Networked Music Applications - Σύγχρονες Δικτυακές Μουσικές Εφαρμογές, Περιοδικο Online, Πανελλήνιος Σύλλογος Μηχανικών Η/Υ & Πληροφορικής - Online Magazine, Panhellenic Society of Computer Engineers and Computer Scientists

BEADS: A dataset of Binaural Emotionally Annotated Digital Sounds

IISA 2014, The 5th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications, 2014

Emotion recognition from generalized sounds is an interdisciplinary and emerging field of researc... more Emotion recognition from generalized sounds is an interdisciplinary and emerging field of research. A vital requirement for this kind of investigations is the availability of ground truth datasets. Currently, there are 2 freely available datasets of emotionally annotated sounds, which, however, do not include sound evenets (SEs) with manifestation of the spatial location of the source. The latter is an inherent natural component of SEs, since all sound sources in real-world conditions are physically located and perceived somewhere in the listener's surrounding space. In this work we present a novel emotionally annotated sounds dataset consisting of 32 SEs that are spatially rendered using appropriate binaural processing. All SEs in the dataset are available in 5 spatial positions corresponding to source/receiver angles equal to 0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees. We have used the IADS dataset as the initial collection of SEs prior to binaural processing. The annotation measures obtained for the novel binaural dataset demonstrate a significant accordance with the existing IADS dataset, while small ratings declinations illustrate a perceptual adaptation imposed by the more realistic SEs spatial representation.

Investigating Auditory Human-Machine Interaction: Analysis and Classification of Sounds Commonly Used by Consumer Devices

Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their fu... more Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their functionality, such as the start and the end of their operation. This is likely to result in an instantaneous and intuitive auditory human-machine interaction, imputing a semantic content to the sounds used. In this work we investigate sound patterns mapped to "Start" and "End" of operation manifestations and explore the possibility such semantics' perception to be based either on users prior auditory training or on sound patterns that naturally convey appropriate information. To this aim, listening and machine learning tests were conducted. The obtained results indicate a strong relation between acoustic cues and semantics along with no need of prior knowledge for message conveyance.

Sonoids: Interactive Sound Synthesis Driven By Emergent Social Behaviour In The Sonic Domain

Proceedings of the SMC Conferences, Jul 4, 2018

Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms have been extensively employed for generating art in many... more Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms have been extensively employed for generating art in many forms. From image generation to sound design, the self-emergence of structures in such algorithms make them suitable for exploring forms of computational creativity in automated generation of art. This work explores sound synthesis by combining swarm intelligence, user interaction and a novel sonic communication protocol between socially-capable artificial agents. These are termed "Sonoids" and socially behave following the well-known boids algorithm but perceive their environment (positions, velocities and identities of other agents) through sound. For the purposes of the work, the overall sound-synthesis environment is demonstrated as an iOS application that handles the Sonoids movement and sonifies their social interaction. User interaction is additionally allowed, which can modify specific parameters of the sonic communication protocol, leading to rich sonifications that present self-emergent structure.

Music Synthesis Based on Nonlinear Dynamics

Music composition from nonlinear dynamics has been a subject of thorough research, producing inte... more Music composition from nonlinear dynamics has been a subject of thorough research, producing interesting music tracks. Simple chaotic maps or even more complex iterative schemes have been proposed, taking advantage of the “structured spontaneity” of nonlinear dynamics by directly transforming the mathematical objects to musical entities. In this work we examine the music compositions produced by two nonlinear systems in terms of complexity, expressed through the Shannon Information Entropy of their Pitch Class Profiles. We present a methodology to interpret the information obtained by the iterative equation s to several tonal and rhythmic attributes. This methodology is implemented in real-time software. A Graphical User Interface is provided that allows the user to adjust several variables while listening to and observing the derived results.

Emergency Voice/Stress-Level Combined Recognition for Intelligent House Applications

Journal of The Audio Engineering Society, 2012

Legacy technologies for word recognition can benefit from emerging affective voice retrieval, pot... more Legacy technologies for word recognition can benefit from emerging affective voice retrieval, potentially leading to intelligent applications for smart houses enhanced with new features. In this work we introduce the implementation of a system, capable to react to common spoken words, taking into account the estimated vocal stress level, thus allowing the realization of a prioritized, affective aural interaction path. Upon the successful word recognition and the corresponding stress level estimation, the system triggers particular affective-prioritized actions, defined within the application scope of an intelligent home environment. Application results show that the established affective interaction path significantly improves the ambient intelligence provided by an affective vocal sensor that can be easily integrated with any sensor-based home monitoring system.

Accessible electronic games for blind children and young people

British Journal of Educational Technology

Abstract: We present a suite of inclusive games designed to address the needs of people with blin... more Abstract: We present a suite of inclusive games designed to address the needs of people with blindness or low vision. Particularly, through the employment of modern sonification strategies that achieves efficient perceptual representation of the game‐play, several audio‐games with different scenarios and application scope (entertainment and education) were developed and demonstrated. A platform called “Memor‐i studio” that allows nontechnical users (including blind ones under supervision) to create such inclusive games has also been developed. The overall presentation includes the detailed description of the outcome of the evaluation process involved children and young people aged between 7 and 20 years old from the Special Elementary School for the Blind in Athens and the Education and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in Athens, Greece. The description is also extended to include the design framework of Memor‐i studio. The conclusions of this evaluation are unexpectedly encouraging, showing that the specific type of inclusive games genre may be a strong alternative toward the development of accessible games for blind people, providing a secure starting point for future developments on this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bringing Digital Multimedia in Mathematics Education

The increased interest for developing new representation techniques and tools for proving and dem... more The increased interest for developing new representation techniques and tools for proving and demonstrating basic mathematical propositions and concepts is the forefront of educational research worldwide in the area of e-learning for mathematics. Although many novel ideas have been proposed for illustrating basic mathematical (i.e. geometrical) concepts, currently there is a lack of effective methods to dynamically reproduce an alternative representation of the underlying concepts. The proposed approach introduces valuable explanatory tools for efficiently supporting the learning objectives, enabling students to reach the core of each notion. In this work, a digital multimedia methodology is presented which implements the above dynamic representation approach. Recent, state-of-the-art trends in multimedia technology related to modern two or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) object modelling are utilised in order to efficiently reproduce a virtual mathematical environment in which selecte...

Advanced Sound Manipulation in Interactive Multimedia Environments

Multimedia standards, frameworks and models are already well established for generalized presenta... more Multimedia standards, frameworks and models are already well established for generalized presentations. However, the situation is much less advanced for systems, which require the combination of advanced sound-oriented features and capabilities similar to those used to interact with highly demanding visual content. In this respect, current commercial presentation applications have been found lacking, often revealing multifaceted presentation limitations, including lack of sound control and delivery. They rarely offer cross-platform compatibility, provide limited programmability, are restrictive on data-interaction, and only support static WWW-based delivery. To overcome the above-stated deficiencies, a number of innovations are proposed, including the presentation of a combined multimedia framework, supported by a model that describes content-connectivity and stream-synchronization, enabling interaction for all audiovisual data-types included in the system.

Towards Citizen Science for Smart Cities: A Framework for a Collaborative Game of Bird Call Recognition Based on Internet of Sound Practices

ArXiv, 2021

Citizen Science aims to engage people in research activities on important issues related to their... more Citizen Science aims to engage people in research activities on important issues related to their well-being. Smart Cities aim to provide them with services that improve the quality of their life. Both concepts have seen significant growth in the last years, and can be further enhanced by combining their purposes with IoT technologies that allow for dynamic and large-scale communication and interaction. However, exciting and retaining the interest of participants is a key factor for such initiatives. In this paper we suggest that engagement in Citizen Science projects applied on Smart Cities infrastructure can be enhanced through contextual and structural game elements realized through augmented audio interactive mechanisms. Our inter-disciplinary framework is described through the paradigm of a collaborative bird call recognition game, in which users collect and submit audio data, which are then classified and used for augmenting physical space with virtual soundscape maps. We disc...

An Error – Concealment Technique for Wireless Digital Audio Delivery

Real-time digital audio streaming over unreliable wireless IP networks, such as WLANs, encounters... more Real-time digital audio streaming over unreliable wireless IP networks, such as WLANs, encounters playback quality degradation, due to late arrivals or permanent loss of the transmitted packets. In this paper we present a perceptually efficient error concealment technique, which, combined with playback synchronization correction schemes and a high-rate wireless transmission protocol with Qualityof-Service support, can significantly improve the overall audio playback quality of typical multichanel home-theater wireless applications.

Emotional Control and Visual Representation using Advanced Audiovisual Interaction

by Bill Psarras and Andreas Floros

Emotional Control and Visual Representation using Advanced Audiovisual Interaction, Dec 2011

Modern interactive means combined with new digital media processing and representation technologi... more Modern interactive means combined with new digital media processing and representation technologies can provide a robust framework for enhancing user experience in multimedia entertainment systems and audiovisual artistic installations with non-traditional interaction / feedback paths based on user affective state. In this work, the “Elevator” interactive audiovisual platform prototype is presented, which aims to identify, control (or elevate) and monitor discrete human emotions (such as anger) and produce a visual outcome of the raised emotion, defined here as the emotional “thumbnail” of the user. Optimized, real-time emotion detection audio signal processing techniques are employed for monitoring the achieved emotional intensity, while the emotional elevation is performed using appropriately selected combined audio/visual content reproduced using state-of-the-art audiovisual playback technologies that allow the creation of a realistic immersive audiovisual environment. The demonstration of the proposed prototype has shown that affective interaction is possible, allowing the further development of relative artistic and technological applications.

Investigating Auditory Human-Machine Interaction: Analysis and Classification of Sounds Commonly Used by Consumer Devices

by Panagiotis Pappas, Rigas Kotsakis, and Andreas Floros

Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their fu... more Many common consumer devices use a short sound indication for declaring various modes of their functionality, such as the start and the end of their operation. This is likely to result in an instantaneous and intuitive auditory human-machine interaction, imputing a semantic content to the sounds used. In this work we investigate sound patterns mapped to "Start" and "End" of operation manifestations and explore the possibility such semantics' perception to be based either on users prior auditory training or on sound patterns that naturally convey appropriate information. To this aim, listening and machine learning tests were conducted. The obtained results indicate a strong relation between acoustic cues and semantics along with no need of prior knowledge for message conveyance.

Designing Audio Technology-Oriented Practices for Teaching Art to Primary School Pupils

by Emmanouel Rovithis and Andreas Floros

Proceedings of the 2nd Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges Conference on Interdisciplinary Creativity in Arts and Technology (DCAC), 2023

Digital literacy has become a focal topic in modern educational studies. In that context, the Ped... more Digital literacy has become a focal topic in modern educational studies. In that context, the Pedagogical and Didactical Sufficiency Program (PDSP) of the Ionian University Department of Audio & Visual Arts is investigating ways to enhance the learning process through the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in teaching practices. This paper presents a learning activity, in which students of Art Education designed educational scenarios that combined a technology-oriented task with the music curriculum of Primary Education. Based on only simple actions, such as highlighting different parts of a sound file in a free, audio editing software, students were able to plan the teaching of audio technology in conjunction with a multitude of different musical subjects. We argue that this approach can foster ICT integration by addressing first-, second-, and third-order barriers, as well as by demonstrating that the teaching of even simple digital literacy skills can serve as the vessel for various learning contexts.

Augmented Audio-only Games: A New Generation of Immersive Acoustic Environments through Advanced Mixing

by Andreas Floros and Emmanouel Rovithis

Audio Engineering Society Convention 146, 2019

Audio-only games represent an alternative type of gaming genres that continuously evolves followi... more Audio-only games represent an alternative type of gaming genres that continuously evolves following the technolog- ical trends that boost the video-games market. Since augmented reality is now a widespread approach for producing new kind of immersive applications, including games, it is expected that audio-only games will be influenced by this approach. This work represents the beginning of an attempt to investigate the process of delivering augmented audio-only games, focusing on specific technical factors that can improve the user interaction and the overall game-play experience. In particularly, it focuses on a new augmented reality audio mixing process that is optimized for variable acoustic environments, allowing the development of new attractive titles of audio-only games.

Educational Audio Gamification: Theory and Practice

by Emmanouel Rovithis and Andreas Floros

Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL), ACPI, 2018

Electronic computer games used for educational purposes currently constitute an essential compone... more Electronic computer games used for educational purposes currently constitute an essential component of the learning process. By combining entertaining elements with interactive technologies to deliver the respective curricula they can enhance the development of various skills, as well as serve as platforms for the application of modern educational theories. Audio Games (AG) are a particular genre of electronic games, in which all information is conveyed mainly or exclusively through sound. Thus, players need to employ their sense of hearing to understand and accomplish the necessary tasks, a process that promotes their concentration, memory, fantasy, emotion, perception, data management and cooperation. Even though research findings have shown that both game and audio interaction have positive effects on the user, there has been no systematic approach in designing educational AG and implementing them in the learning process. In this paper the authors attempt to establish the theoretical frame for the design of educational AG by arguing that their features comply with the goals of music education, as these are formulated in the official Program of Music Studies by the Greek Ministry of Education, and in the Primary Years Program on learning Arts by the International Baccalaureate Institution, on local and global level respectively. In that context, three different audio gamification approaches developed by the authors are discussed as suggestions for incorporation into formal education. The first one aims at raising users’ awareness about the harmful impact of noize on the acoustic environment, the second one introduces players to concepts and techniques of electronic music composition, whereas the third one informs them about the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. All three approaches employ similar mechanics, but each one addresses a different topic: acoustics, music, and even non- music respectively, suggesting that the application of educational AG can extend to a variety of subject matters.

Prediction and Controlling of Auditory Perception in Augmented Environments. A Loudness-Based Dynamic Mixing Technique

by Nikos Moustakas and Andreas Floros

MDPI - APPLIED SCIENCE, 2021

At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible f... more At the core of augmented reality audio (ARA) technology lies the ARA mix, a process responsible for the assignment of a virtual environment to a real one. Legacy ARA mix models have focused on the natural reproduction of the real environment, whereas the virtual environment is simply mixed through fixed gain methods. This study presents a novel approach of a dynamic ARA mix that facilitates a smooth adaptation of the virtual environment to the real one, as well as dynamic control of the virtual audio engine, by taking into account the inherent characteristics of both ARA technology and binaural auditory perception. A prototype feature extraction technique of auditory perception characteristics through a real-time binaural loudness prediction method was used to upgrade the legacy ARA mix model into a dynamic model, which was evaluated through benchmarks and subjective tests and showed encouraging results in terms of functionality and acceptance.