Sounding complex street views and walking route via visual-to-auditory sensory substitution

Twenty four minute walk along the streets of Eindhoven in The Netherlands, recorded April 7, 1993. Video (176 x 144) converted into sound (176 x 64) using The vOICe. Clearly such real-life soundscapes can be overwhelmingly complex to deal with if one is unfamiliar with the environment. However, there are also many "landmark" elements in the soundscapes that can help maintain a desired heading and that provide frequent updates about one's current location along a known route. Keep the sound volume at low to modest levels.

Note that in addition to the information-preserving encoding of camera images, the resulting soundscapes can also serve as mental anchor points for recalibrating (correcting) one's visualization of an otherwise largely known visual environment. In other words, just knowing about the presence and approximate size of a parked car at a given location can suffice to mentally reconstruct a plausible visual view of that car. Even a simple beep for a door knob lets one not only visualize a much more detailed view of that door knob, but also reach for it spot-on!

More information at http://www.seeingwithsound.com

Category:

Education

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• yt:fmt=18
• sensory substitution
• seeingwithsound
• blind
• vision