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Copyright © The Globe and Mail. Archived transcript of June 19, 2006 article by Ian Harvey.
IAN HARVEY
Special to Globe and Mail Update
It's not quite the visor worn by Commander Geordi LaForge, a character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but there are some interesting parallels to an assistive technology that is allowing blind users to "see" by sound.
The technology is part of a wave of software and hardware which has evolved as laptops, mobile phones and PDAs converge into powerful handheld computers running common operating systems such as Windows Mobile 5.0 or the RIM Blackberry platform.
They're having a profound impact, allowing the blind to navigate streets in unfamiliar cities, to having e-mails read from their mobiles and identifying colours.
The "seeing by sound" technology was developed by Peter Meijer, a Dutch scientist, and is available as a free download on his website. It configures signals from a video camera processed via a computer (some versions run on laptops carried in backpacks) into a series of sounds. To the untrained ear it sounds like a series of roars hisses and bleeps, but with a little time users begin to discern shapes and shadows based on the texture and density of the soundscape.
Users report remarkable adaptation, saying they can see shapes as distinct as a coke bottle or discern a soccer ball from a rugby ball.
Claire Cheskin, of London, England, says she can "see" buoy markers in the channel as she sails her yacht in the summer. Another user triumphantly reports being able to tell red peppers from green peppers when grocery shopping.
Some versions have a camera and headphone mounted on headgear, while another version looks more like the Star Trek visor with the camera mounted an oversize cycling visor and connected to laptop in a backpack. Still others are using a mobile phone's built-in video camera and internal processor, thanks to the fact that the processing power in many new handsets is starting to rival that of early desktop computers.
"The colour identification [of the buoys] even on the phone is very detailed and accurate," said Ms. Cheskin. "Once you have learned the basic sound 'language,' you don't have to think about it any more than someone who depends on their vision. It takes about three months and at first you identify geometric shapes, then a shape that you are used to hearing, and then the object means something and you put it in the context of your surroundings. I had a lot of trouble with perspective at first, which you would take for granted, but which meant I 'saw' cars driving up the side of buildings!"
Pranav Lal of New Delhi said in an e-mail interview that he matches his clothing using such a system, "especially trousers and ties," adding that crisper definitions are evolving with the availability of faster mobile processors.
Most of the assistive technology until now has been designed for "stationary" or desktop use, such as JAWS, a software which opens and reads documents to blind users. It also links with another portable device, PAC Mate, which has a dynamic interface to create raised Braille characters and allow users to similarly read documents such as e-mail using tactile sense. But as PDAs and Smart Phones gain processing power, more applications are possible in other areas.
"It's really started to take off in the last 18 months or so with PDAs," said Paul Loba, Canadian National Institute for the Blind's technology consultant.
The ability to shift to handhelds means greater mobility and puts blind users on a more equal footing with sighted co-workers, he said.
"Rather than creating special devices, the great thing is taking existing products and adding applications to them," says Carrie Anton of Aroga Group, the Edmonton-based distributor of Mobile Speak software for handheld devices which turns text and Web pages in to voice. "There are already some cellphones which voice functions like contacts or next call but this takes it a step further."
Marcia Cumming of Toronto, a technical writer at Rogers, uses an iPaq 4150 to run Trekker and Maestro software from L.A.-based Humanware. Maestro is a mobile software which reads documents to her, such as any notes she types into her mobile device or the text in documents. She can also download talking books, which are then digitally enhanced with chapter guides and bookmarks.
But perhaps the most liberating aspect of her handheld is the ability to navigate in almost any city — even places she's never been before using Trekker, a Ground Positioning Satellite (GPS)-linked software. Trekker takes widely available mapping software one step further for the blind. It voices her location, points of interest and gives directions.
"I have maps for all the big cities in Canada," she said. "It's wonderful not to depend on asking people for directions, because half the time they say they don't speak English or say 'they're not from here' when all I'm asking is if they can read a street sign. Trekker has points of interest and you can add your own as you go along."
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