*3.3. Auditory Uta-Karuta*

In normal card-style *Karuta*, both players need to recognize public information on the board without touching the cards. In order to do so, it is necessary to recognize the contents of the cards and the arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of the cards by looking at them, which causes a problem of accessibility for people with visual impairments. The aim of the auditory card game system is to represent information about the contents and arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of multiple cards using auditory stimuli rather than visual stimuli. This will improve accessibility for people with visual impairments because they can recognize the contents and arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of multiple cards simultaneously as a result of the presentation of sounds. We developed "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*" using an auditory card game system into *Uta-Karuta*, to create a new game that can give people with visual impairments access to certain games for effective inclusion. Figure 3 shows the system configuration and procedure of "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*". "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*" consists of multiple audible cards and a parent device operated by the game master. Multiple audible cards are called *Torifuda* devices, and correspond to *Torifuda* in *Uta-Karuta*. The parent device is called a *Yomifuda* device, and corresponds to *Yomifuda* in *Uta-Karuta*. The *Yomifuda* device can not only read out *Yomifuda* but also make *Torifuda* devices emit sound by wireless connection to each *Torifuda* device. Each *Torifuda* device emits a unique sound stimulus, much like playing cards correspond to pictures and symbols, according to the *Yomifuda* device's instruction. *Yomifuda* presented by *Yomifuda* device, and *Torifuda* devices exactly correspond to each other. In this experiment, no information was shown on the screen of the audible cards. The rules of "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*" are described below.

**Figure 3.** The behavior of the auditory card game system when playing "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*" and the procedure of the game. All devices are communicated by signal. A game master operates the *Yomifuda* device to proceed the game.The players obtain the card by touching/grabbing the *Torifuda* device corresponding to the sound presented by the *Yomifuda* device.

### **Phase 0: Assignment of** *Torifuda* **devices**

The first step is to establish wireless communication between the *Torifuda* devices and the *Yomifuda* device. The wireless communication was implemented using Apple's "MultiPeer Connectivity" framework, and all communication was done in signal to avoid delays as much as possible. After communication is established, the *Yomifuda* device randomly assigns content from its own sound data set for each of the *Torifuda* devices. At the same time, *Yomifuda* device gives the numbers to the *Torifuda* devices. This number indicates the order in which the *Torifuda* devices are presented with the sounds in Phase 1.

The *Torifuda* devices hold the sound data used in the experiment. When given signal indicating a particular sound from the *Yomifuda* device, the *Torifuda* devices find the appropriate sound in its own sound data and prepares to play it. Similarly, when given signal indicating the order of read out, the *Torifuda* devices set the waiting time until playback according to the value of the signal.

### **Phase 1: Recognition of** *Torifuda* **Layout**

Arrange the *Torifuda* devices face up on a flat surface in front of the players. When the game master presses the "Start" button displayed on the *Yomifuda* device, a signal the start of read out is given to all connected *Torifuda* devices. When the *Torifuda* devices receive a signal the start of read out from the *Yomifuda* device, they start reading based on the pre-set wait time and sound data. Players memorize the contents and position of the *Torifuda* devices as much as possible.

### **Phase 2: Read out of** *Yomifuda*

The screen of the *Yomifuda* device shows the same number of buttons as the number of sounds used in the experiment. Each button corresponds to a sound, and when a button is pressed, the corresponding sound is played from the *Yomifuda* device. The game master operates the *Yomifuda* device, selects the *Yomifuda*, and presents the corresponding audio signal through the *Yomifuda* device.

### **Phase 3: Race of Finding** *Torifuda*

Players race to determine which *Torifuda* devices corresponds to the *Yomifuda*, and touch/grab what they think are the correct *Torifuda* devices. In this phase, only the touched *Torifuda* device gives its own card order to the *Yomifuda* device. The *Yomifuda* device determines whether or not the correct *Torifuda* device was touched based on the card order given, and plays the correct/incorrect sound effect.

Subsequently, players repeat Phase 2 and Phase 3 until all the *Torifuda* devices are gone. If a player selects incorrect *Torifuda* device, the incorrect *Torifuda* device is re-arranged among the players, and his/her opponent obtain the correct *Torifuda* device. The winner is the player who has the most *Torifuda* devices. "Auditory *Uta-Karuta*" was prepared in two types: Type *α* and Type *β*. The details of these types are described below.

**Type** *α***:** In Phase 2, all *Torifuda* devices do not present the sound. **Type** *β***:** In Phase 2, all *Torifuda* devices present the sound.

People with visual impairments are thought to have a higher capacity for processing auditory information than sighted people because they spend the majority of their daily lives using their hearing ability. In other words, auditory memory can also vary due to players' characteristics. Based on this possibility, Type *α* and Type *β* were prepared. Type *α* does not present the sounds from the audible cards in Phase 2, so players need to remember the arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of the six audible cards and what the sounds indicate. On the other hand, Type *β* is designed to ignore the differences in the players' auditory memory abilities because the audible cards present the cards' contents with sounds in Phase 2. As there is a difference between these conditions, we can conclude that the positions of the six audible cards and the recognition of their contents can vary according to the characteristics of the players.
