7/14/2023 0 Comments Blind people‘In this way, we can make the user feel like someone is drawing on their stomach,’ Prof. It could even produce animations by switching neighbouring motors on and off in sequence to create a sensation of movement. The belt offers wide scope for conveying information and images to the user. ‘In a way you could think of it as a low-resolution vibrating image.’ ‘If there is a lamppost in front of you, for example, as you rotate, you would feel the centre column moving along the belt,’ Prof. Project coordinator Runar Unnthorsson, professor of industrial engineering at the University of Iceland, said the belt could make a simple shadow-like representation of the object being viewed. This provides an alternative, tactile way to represent the scene picked up by headset cameras. 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. In Iceland, researchers are also using 3D-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 system is being further developed to recognise faces, read text and identify colours. ‘Since the use of the white cane and guide dog, there hasnt been a technological mobility solution for the blind and visually impaired,’ Quesada said, adding that Eyesynth expects to be on the market next year. And after a week of training, blind testers are able to distinguish small objects on a table. Users learn Eyesynth's audio language in a familiar environment, so they rapidly get used to understanding the sounds associated with known shapes and positions. This method also provides benefits for people with poor hearing. One of the special features of Eyesynth is that the audio signals are not transmitted through the outer ear, but conducted through bones on the side of the head allowing the user to hear what is going on around them. ‘By learning to understand the subtle variations in the sounds, the user can identify straight lines, or rounder shapes,’ Quesada said. Neural scanning shows that even when only abstract sounds are used, the brain engages the visual cortex to build up an audio image.īy learning the audio language, users can make their way around obstacles or identify and grasp nearby items, such as a water bottle on a restaurant table. ‘We aimed to make the system as beautiful as possible, so it can be stylish, and more than just a gadget,’ Quesada said. Using carefully designed eyewear, discreet cameras, and a processor about the size of a mobile phone, Eyesynth aims to overcome users’ resistance to ungainly or unattractive medical equipment. 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.Ĭrucially, it was designed with style in mind. ‘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. ![]() Advances in technology and medical science may never restore perfect sight to the millions with very poor vision or unable to see at all.īut a wearable gadget resembling glasses uses cameras and a compact processing unit to create 3D images on the fly and feeds the information back to the wearer as intuitive soundscapes. According to the World Health Organization, there are about 285 million visually impaired people around the world, of whom 39 million are blind.
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