Could the blind see? Scientists have created a new device that may allow the blind to use auditory or tactile stimulation in order to "see" colors and shapes. The technology could be a huge boon to the blind and may help them recognize images without actually seeing them.
The device that actually aids with this is called a Sensory Substitution Device (SSD). This device provides representations of visual information. Currently, SSDs aren't widely used within the blind community because they can be both cumbersome and unpleasant to use. Most SSDs don't have the ability to provide color information, and some of the tactile and auditory systems can be unpleasant after prolonged use.
Now, though, researchers have created a novel SSD called EyeMusic that transmits shape and color information through a composition of pleasant musical tones, or "soundscapes." The SSD scans an image and then uses musical pitch to represent the location of pixels. The higher the pixel on a vertical plane, the higher the pitch of the musical note associated with it.
That's not all, though. Color information was conveyed to participants by using different musical instruments to create the sounds. For example, white used vocals; blue used trumpet; red used reggae organ; green used synthesized reed; yellow used violin and so on.
"This study is a demonstration of abilities showing that it is possible to encode the basic building blocks of shape using the EyeMusic," said Amir Amedi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Furthermore, the success in associating color to musical timbre holds promise for facilitating the representation of more complex shapes."
The findings could be extremely useful to the blind in the future. The EyeMusic can enable the visually impaired to extract visual shape and color information using auditory soundscapes of objects. In addition, the EyeMusic could potentially be used as a tool for future neuroscience research, revealing the changes associated with learning to decode color information.
The findings were published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
