Sonification as Catalyst in Training Manual Wheelchair Operation for Sports and Everyday Life

In this paper, a study on sonification of manual wheelchair movements is presented. The aim was to contribute to both rehabilitation contexts and in wheelchair sports contexts, by providing meaningful auditory feedback for training of manual wheelchair operation. A mapping approach was used where key parameters of manual wheelchair maneuvering were directly mapped to different sound models. The system was evaluated with a qualitative approach in experiments. The results indicate that there is promise in utilizing sonification for training of manual wheelchair operation but that the approach of direct sonification, as opposed to sonification of the deviation from a predefined goal, was not fully successful. Participants reported that there was a clear connection between their wheelchair operation and the auditory feedback, which indicates the possibility of using the system in some, but not all, wheelchair training contexts.