Sound map helps blind people to travel on their own

A new way to transfer images from laser and digital camcorders into three-dimensional sound maps to help blind people walk, avoid obstacles on the road. The image turned into a sound that would tell the blind man about to touch the static and dynamic obstacles on the road.

Bristol University has written a new algorithm to handle images in the sights of laser or digital cameras, such as trees, obstructions, passersby, including objects (vehicles). moving on the road, predicting the direction and speed of these objects.

Images and related data will turn into sound, through a method found by Laguna University scientists. The blind ' reads ' the map with sound through a pair of stethoscope against the ears. With this sound map, blind people can completely go out on a busy street and still avoid standing or moving obstacles.

A blind man walks through the sound map.

A pair of stereo stethoscope can show locations in space, based on the same principle as a person's ear hearing test, to determine where the sound is coming from. Orientation possibilities can also be improved by applying the gyroscope of the University of Marche, Italy scientists.

The distance is reflected by the intensity of the sound . The closer you go to an obstacle the bigger the sound. When dangerous collisions can occur, the alarm system will ring an emergency bell for the blind to take action.

Currently two designs have been designed. The first prototype uses infrared lasers attached to the blinds' eyeglasses. With a viewing angle of 60 degrees, it informs owners of obstacles in front of 5 meters or less. The second prototype added a digital camcorder attached to the side of the hard hat that the blind man wore on his head, and thus increased the viewing angle for the user.

The inventors also intend to network audio maps with GPS (global geostationary satellites) to help blind people know the obstacles that are fixed but avoided first.

Both of these experimental products are very successful, but researchers are still cautious. They want to check more before putting these sound maps on the market. In particular, the inventors make sure that the machine is never stopped suddenly when the user is crossing a busy street or in other dangerous situations.