Sonification for Enhanced Situational Awareness in Spatial Computing

About the project

About the Project Please note, there is no funding attached to this project. All tuition fees and any other associated costs (including bench fees) must be financed by the student. Please consider this before submitting your application. The College of Business, Technology and Engineering draws on talents, expertise and facilities across Sheffield Hallam University. The vision is to be the leading provider of applied research excellence delivering computing, science and engineering innovations meeting the development needs of industry. PhD Research Topic The aim of this PhD project is to bring together psychology, spatial computing and human computer interaction to explore the nature of sonification and its potential to enhance situational awareness. In complex, data-rich environments, visual systems are often overloaded. Modern high-stakes environments suffer from severe visual cognitive overload. Current Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) heavily relies on screens, dashboards, and visual alerts. When data streams become dense or chaotic, a user's visual channel reaches capacity. This bottleneck leads to missed critical cues, delayed responses, and a catastrophic breakdown in situational awareness (SA). Although sound is sometimes used to alleviate this, current applications are limited to basic, disruptive alarms (monophonic alerts) that cause alarm fatigue rather than providing continuous, meaningful context. There is a critical lack of multi-disciplinary frameworks to design, test, and standardise continuous, spatialised auditory environments that safely offload information from the eyes to the ears. This PhD project explores sonification (the use of non-speech audio to convey data) as a powerful tool to enhance situational awareness. You will investigate how translating environmental data into intuitive soundscapes can improve a user’s ability to perceive, understand, and predict events. The goal is to move beyond simple alerts, creating sophisticated auditory environments that allow users to operate more effectively in high-stakes or data-heavy scenarios. Objectives: Design bespoke sonification systems that translate complex, non-audio data streams into spatialised sound to augment user perception. Develop theoretical frameworks to explain the cognitive mechanisms that make sonification effective for situational awareness. Evaluate the causal links between auditory data delivery, situational awareness, and measurable operational effectiveness. Areas of theoretical exploration · Cross-Modal Sensory Offloading: Shifting data processing from the saturated visual cortex to the underutilised auditory cortex to free up cognitive bandwidth. · Pre-attentive Auditory Processing: Utilising background acoustic changes (pitch, timbre, tempo) so users can detect environmental anomalies subconsciously without active focus. · Binaural Spatial Audition: Exploiting natural human interaural time and intensity differences to instantly communicate where a data event is happening in 360-degree space. · Acoustic Ecology Mapping: Designing soundscapes based on natural human associations (e.g., rising pitch indicates rising pressure) to reduce the training time required to understand the data. · Perceptual Stream Segregation: Layering multiple data streams into distinct acoustic frequencies so the human brain can track separate variables simultaneously without confusion. Eligibility Applicants should hold a 1st or 2:1 Honours degree in a Computing related discipline. A Master’s degree in a related area is desirable. We welcome applications from all candidates irrespective of age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, or marital or civil partnership status. English language requirements of IELTS 7 with a minimum score of 6.5 in all test areas (or equivalent) are mandatory if English is not your first language. Qualifications should have been taken within the last two years. Further information can be found here . How to apply All applications must be submitted using the online application form . As part of your application, please upload: · A research proposal (max. 1500 words) in your own words, briefly outlining the proposed research, the current knowledge and context referencing key background literature; a proposed methodology or approach to answer the key questions, and any potential significance or impact of the research · A two-page (maximum) CV (submitted as a single PDF file with the research proposal) · Copy of your highest degree certificate and transcript. · Non-UK applicants must submit IELTs results (or equivalent) taken in the last two years and a copy of their passport. Applicants must provide 2 references, with at least one to be academic. References must be received directly from the referees. We strongly recommend you contact the lead academic (Tom Garner – t.garner@shu.ac.uk ) to discuss your application.

Research areas