APA
Click to copy
Maimon, A., Wald, I. Y., & Lanir, J. (2026). ThermalWave: A Wearable Thermal-to-Audio Sensory Substitution Device. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Chicago/Turabian
Click to copy
Maimon, Amber, Iddo Yehoshua Wald, and J. Lanir. “ThermalWave: A Wearable Thermal-to-Audio Sensory Substitution Device.” Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2026).
MLA
Click to copy
Maimon, Amber, et al. “ThermalWave: A Wearable Thermal-to-Audio Sensory Substitution Device.” Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026.
BibTeX Click to copy
@article{amber2026a,
title = {ThermalWave: A Wearable Thermal-to-Audio Sensory Substitution Device},
year = {2026},
journal = {Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
author = {Maimon, Amber and Wald, Iddo Yehoshua and Lanir, J.}
}
Thermal information is normally invisible to humans, yet it can be very meaningful. Infrared cameras can reveal temperature distributions, but such displays compete with an already saturated visual channel and are poorly suited for continuous, mobile use. Sensory substitution has been shown to offer an alternative by remapping thermal information to audio, potentially forming an experience of extended visual perception. We present ThermalWave, a real-time, wearable thermal-to-audio system that converts live infrared images into continuous auditory soundscapes. The system integrates a low-cost thermal camera with on-device processing to enable no-contact, no-screen mobile access to thermal information in physical environments. Thermal images are selectively remapped to emphasize hot and cold regions and translated into soundscapes that preserves spatial layout through pitch, timbre, and temporal modulation. This paper describes the system architecture, implementation, and key considerations for wearable deployment, supporting future work on extended thermal perception.