Director
Dr. Bruce Walker
Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, and founder of the Sonification Lab. Dr. Walker completed his Ph.D. at Rice University in Human Factors Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction in 2001. He is a Core Faculty Member in the GVU Center, a member of the Center for Music Technology (GTCMT) and the Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID), and a Project Director in the WirelessRERC. Dr. Walker is currently the Past-President of the International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD).
[bruce.walker@psych.gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Affiliated Faculty
Dr. Adrian Houtsma
Adjunct Professor in the School of Psychology. Dr. Houtsma completed his Ph.D. at MIT, and has had a distinguished career as a professor and research lab director in the US and The Netherlands. He is helping supervise graduate students and helping lead our Bone Conduction Audio research projects.
[adrianus.houtsma [at] psych.gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Postdoctoral Researchers
Postdoc Position Available
The Sonification Lab is accepting applications for a paid postdoctoral researcher. Candidates must hold (or be ABD for) a PhD in Psychology, Computing, HCI, or other field that relates directly to the work in the Sonification Lab. Projects include, but are not limited to, fMRI studies related to auditory perception, driving studies, in-vehicle assistive technology, auditory graphs and sonification, accessible museums and aquariua, auditory user interfaces, wayfinding systems, STEM education for students with disabilities, computer systems and technologies for audio-based assistive technologies.
PhD Students
Jared Batterman
Jared is a PhD student in the School of Psychology. His interests include auditory perception, cognition, sonification, and auditory interfaces.
His research looks at how to design effective auditory graphs, with current interest in conveying error in a measurement, such as an auditory equivalent to error bars.
[jmbatterman [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Carrie Bruce
Carrie is a Research Scientist at CATEA, and a PhD student in the School of Interactive Computing, in the HCC program. She is a speech-language pathologist and an assistive technology practitioner. Carrie studies discourse in human-technology interactions, and is a co-PI on the Accessible Aquarium Project.
[carrie.bruce [at] coa.gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Denise Chew
Denise is a PhD student in the School of Interactive Computing in the HCC program. Her interests include studying the effect of introducing educational and assistive technology in STEM classes for students with visual impairment. Denise is also a researcher on the Auditory Graphs project.
[ychew [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Ben Davison
Ben is a PhD student in the School of Interactive Computing in the HCC program. His interests include studying the development, deployment, and usage of auditory interfaces in everyday computing devices. He is the lead developer on the Sonification Sandbox project, and a researcher on the Auditory Graphs and Advanced Auditory Menus projects.
[davison [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Thomas Gable
Thom is a PhD student in the School of Psychology. His research interests are centered on attention and driving. He is involved in many of our research projects, and is one of the scenario developers for the School of Psychology's Driving Simulator. Thom graduated with a BA in Psychology from The College of Wooster, and worked in the Sonification Lab as a research associate before starting his PhD program.
[thomas.gable [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Julia Olsheski (née DeBlasio)
Julia is a PhD student in the School of Psychology. Her interests include environmental design and auditory interfaces. Her research looks at how multimodal stimuli (e.g., auditory and visual) are processed. She is currently working on the IVAT in-vehicle assistive technology project, as well as research for NASA, and was the lead researcher on the Medical Technology project.
[julia [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Jonathan Schuett
Jonathan is a PhD student in the School of Psychology. His interests include auditory graphs, auditory perception, multimodal user interfaces, assistive technology, and assessment. His research is looking at how to create effective auditory graphs, focusing on context and multiple data series. Jonathan is also involved in the IVAT project, the Mwangaza Project in Kenya, and auditory display design projects.
[jschuett6 [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Jeff Wilson
Jeff is a research scientist in BITC and IMTC, and a PhD student in the School of Interactive Computing, in the CS/HCI program, and is interested in audio and interactive interfaces. He is a researcher and the lead developer of the System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN). He also works on the Advanced Auditory Menus project, with particular interest in "push" menus.
[jeff.wilson [at] bitc.gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Current HCI and Computing Masters Students
In addition, the Sonification Lab always has several HCI Masters students, Computer Science Masters students, and other Masters students working in the lab. They work on all of the projects in the lab, with their contribtions ranging from programming to running experiments and analyzing data.
Hitesh Chhabra
Hitesh Chhabra is an MS-CS student. He is working on the Auditory Graphs project.
[hitesh.chhabra27 [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Ramitha Chitloor
Ramitha Chitloor is an MS-CS student.
[ramitha [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Saie Deshpande
Saie is an MS-CS student specializing in HCI. She is working on a database to archive data collected in our Mwangaza Project in Kenya.
[saie.16 [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Erin Hennessy
Erin is an MS-HCI student. She is working on sonification of human movement.
[echennessy [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Amrutha Krishnan
Amrutha is an MS-HCI student. She is working on auditory games and web development.
[writetoamrutha [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Vincent Martin
Vincent is an MS-HCI (Psychology) student. He is working on accessible teaching of statistics.
[vincent.martin [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Keenan May
Keenan is an MS-HCI student. He is working on the driving simulator and novel interaction with auditory menus.
[kmay [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Sruthi Padala
Sruthi Padala is an MS-CS student. She is working on movement sensor calibration.
[padala.shruthi [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Lisa Rossi
Lisa is an MS-HCI student.
[lrossi [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Rick Swette
Rick is an MS-HCI (Psychology) student. He is working on the In-Vehicle Assistive Technology (IVAT) project.
[rick.swette [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Haifa Wright-Hullett
Haifa is an MS-HCI (Psychology) student. She is working on multimodal interfaces in support of our NASA research.
[hwrighthulett [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Research Associates and Staff
Ashley Henry
Ashley graduated with a BS in Biology from Georgia Tech in 2011, and joined the Sonification Lab as a full time research associate. She had already been working in the lab as an undergraduate. Ashley is involved in many of our research projects, including the Accessible Aquarium, the Aquarium Fugue, and STEm education for visually impaired students.
[ashleyghenry [at] psych.gatech.edu]
[Web page]
Undergraduate Students
We always have many undergraduate students, from all over the campus, including Psychology, Computing, LCC, ECE, etc., working on various projects. Students generally start in the lab by completing a project for credit. This may range from programming a bit of software, or running subjects, or entering and analyzing data, or doing usability testing, or... or .... This initial experience often leads to continued experience and further projects. Please contact Dr. Walker if you are interested in gaining experience or working on a project in the Lab's general areas of interest. Don't worry if you don't have a specific project in mind...On the other hand, if you do have a specific project in mind, that's cool too--we are always open to new ideas.
Undergraduate Senior Thesis Students:
Lisa Siebenaler, Fall 2002, Spring 2003
"Magnitude Estimation of Sound Attributes Used in Auditory Displays: A Study of Blind and Visually Impaired Listeners"
Received Georgia Tech President's Undergraduate Research Award
Yoko Nakano, Fall 2004, Spring 2005
"Systematic Evaluation of 'SoundScape' Sonifications"
Received Georgia Tech President's Undergraduate Research Award
Jennifer Holmes, Fall 2006, Spring 2007
"Wayfinding Effectiveness with the System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN)"
Dianne Palladino, Spring 2007, Fall 2007
"Evaluation of Spearcons as an Auditory Interface Element"
Sara Cantu, Spring 2007, Fall 2007
"Evaluation of Advanced Tactile Interface Device"
Naomi Warnick, Spring 2008, Fall 2008
"Reaction Time for Sounds Presented via Bone Conduction Audio Devices" and
"Measuring the Effects of Physical Sound Stimulus and Bone Conducting Transducer Location on Reaction Time"
Received Georgia Tech President's Undergraduate Research Award
Tyler Campbell, Summer 2009, Fall 2009
"Trust, Technology, and Money"
Yarden Moskovitch, Fall 2009, Spring 2010
"Evaluation of Automatic Textual Description of Mathematical Graphs"
Received Georgia Tech President's Undergraduate Research Award
Riley Winton, Fall 2011, Spring 2012
Musician Interpretaton of Dynamic Exhibits
Hannah Fletcher, Spring 2012, Fall 2012
Different Stimulus Types to Represent Points of Intersection in Auditory Graphs
Received Georgia Tech PresidentŐs Undergraduate Research Award
Amanda Brock, Fall 2012, Spring 2013
Attitude Survey Assessment in Blind Subjects
Lab Graduate Student Alumni
Postdoc Alumni
Dr. Andrew Wallace
Dr Andrew Wallace received his PhD in Cognitive Science from Brown University in 2011. His dissertation was entitled, The Auditory Representation of Time and Frequency in Vowel Quality Perception. Andy is working on studies of neural speech representation.
[andrew.wallace [at] gatech.edu]
[Web page]
PhD Alumni
Dr. Michael A. Nees
Dr. Michael A. Nees received his PhD in Psychology from Georgia Tech in 2009. His dissertation was entitled, Internal Representations of Auditory Frequency: Behavioral Studies of Format and Malleability by Instructions. Follwoing graduation, Dr. Nees taught at Spelman College in Atlanta, and then held a postdoctoral research position in the Georgia Tech Sonification Lab. Among other successes and honors, Mike was awarded the 2010 APA Division 21 George E. Briggs Dissertation Award, for the best dissertation in the field of Applied Experimental/Engineering Psychology. Mike is now (from 2011) an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lafayette College.
[nees.michael [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Dr. Raymond M. Stanley
Dr. Raymond M. Stanley received his PhD in Psychology from Georgia Tech in 2009. Ray's dissertation was entitled, Measurement and Validation of Bone-Conduction Adjustment Functions in Virtual 3D Audio Displays. While at Georgia Tech, Ray's research centered on perception and psychophysics, and especially bone conduction audio and bonephones. He was the lead researcher on the Bone Conduction Audio project. Dr. Stanley held a postdoctoral researcher position with Prof. Art Wingman at Brandeis University, before accepting a position at Mitre Corporation.
[raystanley [at] gmail.com]
[Web page]
Dr. Myounghoon "Philart" Jeon
Philart received his PhD in Psychology from Georgia Tech in 2012. His dissertation was entitled, Effects Of Affective States On Driver Situation Awareness And Adaptive Mitigation Interfaces: Focused On Anger. While at Georgia Tech, Philart's research looked at how emotion and affect play a role in user interfaces and in task performance, especially driving. His interests also included audio design and perception for mobile devices such as cell phones and in-vehicle "infotainment" systems. He worked on the IVAT in-vehicle assistive technology project, on the Advanced Auditory Menus project, and also on the Accessible Aquarium project.
[mjeon [at] mtu.edu]
[Web page]
Lisa Mauney (née Siebenaler)
Lisa was a PhD student in the School of Psychology. Her interests included individual differences in the perception and comprehension of auditory displays, auditory graphs, and sonifications, as well as assistive technology and how people with low vision read. She started in the Lab as an undergraduate, and completed her Undergraduate Senior Thesis in the Lab, before joining us as a grad student. She was part of the Individual Differences and Training in Auditory Displays and Auditory Graphs projects. LIsa has left the lab and taken a job at LinkedIn.
[kint16 [at] yahoo.com]
[Web page]
MS Alumni
Jason D'Orazio, MS-HCI (Psychology track), Dec 2002
"Issues in Car Navigation"
Daniel Smith, MS (Psychology), May 2003
"Effects of Training and Context on Human Performance in a Point Estimation Sonification Task"
Darren Hough, MS, (Architecture--Industrial Design), May 2003
"Aesthetics and Product Usability"
Justin Godfrey, MS-HCI (Psychology track), Aug 2004
"Development and Evaluation of the Audio Abacus"
Josh Cothran, MS-HCI (Computer Science track), Aug 2004
"Web Application for Controlled Burn Simulation "
Kathy Lau, MS-HCI (Psychology track), Dec 2004
"Tame Study "
Amanda Nance, MS-HCI (Computer Science track), May 2005
"Sonification of Menu Structures "
Kevin Stamper, MS-HCI (Computer Science track), May 2005
"Mobile Audio Designs (MAD) Monkey: A Tool for Sound Design "
Jeffrey Lindsay, MS Psychology, Sept 2005
"The Effect of a Simultaneous Speech Discrimination Task on Navigation in a Virtual Environment"
Britt Caldwell, MS-HCI (Psychology track) May 2006
"Effects of Technology Use on the Doctor-Patient Interaction"
Lisa Mauney, MS Psychology, Aug 2006
"Individual Differences in Cognitive, Musical, and Perceptual Abilities"
Ray Stanley, MS Psychology, Aug 2006
"Adapting Spatial Audio Displays For Use With Bone Conduction: How Bone-conducted Waves Interact With Air-conducted Waves at the Basilar Membrane"
Robert Gray, MS-HCI (Psychology track) Aug 2006
"Audio Task Assistance for Aircraft Maintainers"
Michael Nees, MS Psychology, Jan 2007
"Data Density and Trend Reversals in Auditory Graphs: Effects on Point Estimation and Trend Identification Tasks"
Pavani Yalla, MS-HCI (LCC track) May 2008
"Advanced Auditory Menus"
Anandi Pendse, MS-CS, May 2008
"Bone Conduction Audio Perception"
Vivek Muppalla, MS-CS, May 2008
"SWAN System Research and Development"
Les Smee, MS-HCI (CS track), Dec 2008
"MotoBridge GUI study: An interface study of the State of Georgia's interoperability solution"
Anna (Anya) Kogan, MS-HCI (Psychology track), May 2009
Auditory Graphs for Education; Spearcons in Dual Tasks
Siddharth Gupta, MS-HCI (CS track), May 2009
Advanced Auditory Menus
Unkyong Lee, MS-CS, May 2009
Sonification Sandbox: Online Version; Auditory Menus: Mobile Version
Mary Frances Jones, MS-HCI (Psychology track), August 2009
In-home evaluation of "Fuzzy Logic" Sign Language Teaching Toy
Julia DeBlasio, MS Psychology, August 2009
"Documentation in a Medical Setting with Young and Older Adults"
Stephen Choi, MS-HCI (CS track), May 2010
The Digitizer Audio Graph: Automatic Auditory Graph Generation Using Computer Vision
Marc Buigues, MS-CS, May 2010
Development and Evaluation of Museum Visitor Tracking Software
Jeff McCloud, MS-Industrial Design, May 2010
In-Vehicle Assistive Technologies
Neil Russell, MS-HCI, May 2010
Accessible Aquarium Project: Zoo Soundscapes
Gary Golubski, MS-HCI, May 2010
Auditory Graphs in Classrooms at the Georgia Academy for the Blind
Myounghoon "Philart" Jeon, October 2010
"Spindex (Speech Index) Enhances Menu Navigation User Experience Of Touch Screen Devices In Various Input Gestures: Tapping, Wheeling, And Flicking"
Victor Ondego, MS-HCI (Psychology track), May 2011
Accessible Aquarium Project
Ruby Zheng, MS-HCI, May 2011
Interactive Aquarium Interface
Ozum Akanser, MS-HCI (Psychology), May 2012.
Accessible electronic user interfaces for data collection in the Mwangaza Project on accessible STEM education in Kenya.
Joe Lin, MS-HCI (Computing) student, May 2012.
Developing auditory graphing tools for iOS devices.
Sundararajan Sarangan, MS-CS, May 2012.
Advanced in-vehicle infotainment systems in our driving simulator, and the In-Vehicle Assistive Technology (IVAT) system built on the Centrafuse platform.
Abhishek Srivastava, MS-CS, May 2012.
Implementing auditory interfaces on Android devices, and helping develop software for auditory graphs.
Hyewon Suh, MS-CS, May 2012.
Auditory Graphs, the Accessible Aquarium Project, and Advanced Auditory Menus.
Sung-ihk Yang, MS-CS, May 2012.
Web sites in support of various projects in the lab.
Jung-Bin "Jay" Yim, MS-CS, May 2012.
In-Vehicle Assistive Technologies (IVAT) and Aquarium Fugue project.
