The Background - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 25

ability and produce rich and timely information that hopefully will contribute to
provide an enrichment for the individual's health and enjoyment.
The next chapter, intends to continue the initial introduction to the technical
field and will as a concept present perceptual behaviours that are also consid-
ered to affect varieties of groups in a population. This perceptual quality may
cause substantial differences appearing between individuals, which may lead to
consequences for the individual's performance. For example, the colour vision
will be discussed in more detail and have a quality variation that can affect the
individual's quality of life. Indeed, the human population will be shown to exhibit
a variety of perceptual performances.
The following chapters in this topic will give further perspectives on artifi-
cial human based sensor systems, which are foreseen to gain the human sens-
ing abilities, by technical solutions that will involve a multidisciplinary approach.
Attached to each section are exemplified applications illustrating the field of inter-
est and capabilities of human based artificial sensor performance.

1.5 APPLICATION

In daily life, we are continuously affected by circumstances that more or less have
an influence on our perception, thus making us an active species in the world.
This process is also influenced by whether we pay attention to the issue or are just
passively floating on the information flow that is constantly entering our body.
Is the young generation of today able to experience an environment, free of
disturbing noise and to rest the auditory system, by for example, entering a quiet
room or sitting on a rock on the beach of a lake? This is indeed another experience,
than the impression of sitting in a noiseless chamber, which will most likely estab-
lish an uncertainty and create a mixture of feelings. The human is through history
closely connected to the nature and has since generation's back, been a part of and
participating in, the evolution of nature. We usually feel more comfortable in a nat-
ural environment, e.g., the sound from water entering the beach than experience
artificial sensations in a city environment or in a noise free chamber. It should be
a human right for all children to experience these matters and feel the sensations
from nature, without any disturbance from the artificial world, e.g., cities, train,
cars, tv, etc.
Therefore, belonging to the young generation of today and growing up in a
big city provide natural visual constraints. The daily living of the young gen-
eration, with activities like reading books, writing in school, game playing in free
time, watching television and movies in the evening completes a day of near-visual
perception. The concern is, however, that many young people of today exhibit the
fact that they frequently experience, on a daily basis, a limited visual function.
They are unfortunately not using their long-vision sight, which may result in con-
sequences later in life, as well as for the future generations.
Another concern is that many people are raised in the tradition of fast food