It will no more be difficult for visually impaired people to know about the unknown area. An interactive map which paints the picture with sound and not images allows a person to explore a city either from bird’s eye perspective or by walking through a virtual three dimensional environment.
This technology not only aides the visually impaired by giving them the sense of place before they explore, it could also offer audio cues to sighted people when they are in blind situations.
The city can be explored by moving a stylus across a tablet PC. The stylus and the edges of the PC help the person feel the extent of the map and develop mental model of the space.
Geographic features such as buildings, parks, lakes and tourist sites are represented by corresponding sounds. A park sounds like singing birds, lakes sound like dabbling water and sightseeing spots sound like camera shutter clicks.
The map comes with an auditory torch, which can be used to acoustically illuminate large or small areas one at a time. The features that fall under the glow of the torch will make noise as the torch is moved around. The objects that are nearby sound louder than those that are far away.
Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland, College Park, calls the interactive map an inspirational prototype.
If the interactive map is paired with tactile technology, it would help the person to navigate actual city streets. That means, if the person knows the map and wants to walk to a particular place; he/ she can download the information to a vibrating belt and wear the belt on the journey. There will be different sides of the belt which would vibrate and cue the person to turn left or right, ultimately guiding the person to the final destination.
Source: Discovery News
