Synesthesia Benefitting the Blind
From: Product Design & Development - 08/24/2010

A vision technology called the vOICe system translates camera images into
audio signals that can provide blind users with an audio picture of the world. 

The product was developed by Dutch inventer Peter Meijer, who first had the
idea in 1982. He built the first prototype in 1991, and the first bulky
portable version in 1998. Today, vOICe uses a webcam mounted to a pair of
sunglasses, which are connected to a laptop to be converted into a
"soundscape" for the user. 

Read the article and view a video at:
http://www.pddnet.com/video-synesthesia-benefitting-the-blind-082410/

Links:
Seeing Sounds – The vOICe System Rewires the Brain’s Audio into Visual
http://singularityhub.com/2010/08/24/seeing-sounds-%E2%80%93-the-voice-system-rewires-the-brain%E2%80%99s-audio-into-visual/

Sensory hijack: rewiring brains to see with sound
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727731.500-sensory-hijack-rewiring-brains-to-see-with-sound.html?page=1

Augmented Reality for the Totally Blind
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/