Automatic danger and directional detection method for headphone users

Abstract

Portable audio players remove spatial constraints for listening to music or playing audio and allow us to easily enjoy music by using headphones anywhere and at any time. However, using headphones to listen to music on the street leads to traffic accidents with deadly consequences because people cannot detect dangers, and the number of such accidents is gradually increasing. This study was conducted to suggest a method of enabling headphone users to recognize dangers around them while walking on the street. This method detects and evaluates external danger signals and then controls audio playback to communicate a warning message to users. Furthermore, it can also detect the direction of the origin of the external audio stimulation. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.