A PROPOSAL OF 5-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM 3D NONVERBAL VOICE INTERFACE

This paper proposes a new emphasizing three-dimensional pointing devic e considering user friendliness and lack of cable clutter. The propose d method utilizes five degrees of freedom via the medium of non-verbal voice of human. That is, the spatial direction of the sound source, t he type of the voice phoneme and the ''tone'' of the voice phoneme are utilized. The input voice is analyzed regarding the above factors and then taking proper effects as previously defined for human interface. In this paper the estimated spatial direction is used for three-dimen sional movement for the virtual object as three degrees of freedom. Bo th of the type and the tone of the voice phoneme are used for remainin g two degrees of freedom. Since vocalization of nonverbal human voice is an everyday task, and the intonation of the voice can be quite easi ly and intentionally controlled by human vocal ability, the proposed s cheme is a new three-dimensional spatial interaction medium. in this s ense, this paper realizes a cost-effective and handy nonverbal interfa ce scheme without any artificial wearing materials which might give a physical and psychological fatigue. By using the prototype the authors evaluate the performance of the scheme from both of static and dynami c points of view and show some advantages of look and feel, and then p rospect possibilities of the application for the proposed scheme.