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Texture is one of the main image attributes used for visual and computer-aided pattern recognition in several areas. However, texture analysis is often confounded by other neighboring or surrounding features. The auditory system has not been used much for image analysis in spite of the fact that it has several advantages over the visual system. We explore in this article the potential of auditory display procedures, including audification and sonification, for aural presentation and analysis of texture in images. We first draw an analogy between random/periodic texture and unvoiced/ voiced speech in terms of their generation based on filtering of an excitation function. An audification procedure that consists of playing in sequence the projections of the given image at several angles is then proposed. A linear prediction model is used to generate the sound signal from the projection data. Also presented is a sonification procedure to convert periodic texture to sound with the emphasis on displaying the essential features of the texture element and periodicity. In order to verify the potential of the proposed methods for aural analysis of texture, a set of pilot experiments was designed and presented to 10 subjects. The results indicate that the proposed methods can facilitate qualitative and comparative analysis of texture. The methods could lead to the use of auditory display of images as an adjunctive procedure to visualization.
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