How Soundscapes and Vibrations Are Helping Blind People See the World
From: ECN Magazine - 12/12/2017

Glasses that translate images of physical objects into soundscapes and a belt
that turns images into vibrations are helping blind people build up a
real-time 3-D picture of the world around them, and the technology could hit
the market as soon as next year.

A wearable gadget resembling glasses uses cameras and a compact processing
unit to create 3-D images on the fly and feeds the information back to the
wearer as intuitive soundscapes.

'The cameras produce a three-dimensional picture of the surroundings in real
time and the system translates this into sound, something like the sound of
the sea, which the user learns to interpret to navigate their environment,'
said Antonio Quesada, chief executive of Eyesynth, based in Castellon, Spain.

The specially developed headset, developed with the support of EU funding,
constructs 'audio pictures' of the wearer's surroundings with the aim of
improving everyday interactions and increasing the independence of blind
people and those with very poor vision.

-

In Iceland, researchers are also using 3-D-camera systems to create a picture
for blind people but they're complementing it with a vibrating belt that uses
the sense of touch, also known as haptics, to produce a novel form of
visualisation.

The latest prototype belt in the EU-funded Sound of Vision project fits
around the user's mid-section and uses a matrix of motors that vibrate gently
against the stomach. This provides an alternative, tactile way to represent
the scene picked up by headset cameras.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2017/12/how-soundscapes-and-vibrations-are-helping-blind-people-see-world
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/12/how-soundscapes-and-vibrations-are-helping-blind-people-see-world

Links:
Eyesynth
https://eyesynth.com/?lang=en

Sound of Vision
https://soundofvision.net

Related:
News tagged with "blind people"
https://phys.org/tags/blind+people

Wearable Clip Helps the Blind Navigate with Ultrasound
https://www.mdtmag.com/videos/2015/10/wearable-clip-helps-blind-navigate-ultrasound

A Touchable Tablet to Guide the Visually Impaired
https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2017/05/touchable-tablet-guide-visually-impaired

Ultrasonic Bracelet Helps Blind People Navigate
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/11/ultrasonic-bracelet-helps-blind-people-navigate

App Couples with Sensors to Assist Blind (with video 4:45)
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/10/app-couples-sensors-assist-blind

Open Platform to Help the Blind Navigate Surroundings
https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2015/10/open-platform-help-blind-navigate-surroundings

Hand-Worn Robotics to Help Blind and Visually Impaired Recognize Objects
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/12/hand-worn-robotics-help-blind-and-visually-impaired-recognize-objects

Toyota's Neckband Could Generate Complex Indoor Maps for the Blind
https://www.mdtmag.com/blog/2016/03/toyotas-neckband-could-generate-complex-indoor-maps-blind

Robots to Provide a Steadying Hand at the Right Time
https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2016/06/robots-provide-steadying-hand-right-time