SoundTact - Visual to Tactile and Sound Information to assist Visually Impaired People

There are 40 million blind people worldwide and over 120 million people have significant visual problems. Their use of mobile computing fits the same profile as the general population; most younger people with are conversant with modern technologies, and increasingly older people too. Smartphones and tablets have accessibility features built in but they are limited to text and buttons - there is no way for visually impaired users to visualise maps, imagery or the 3d imagery on next generation tablets. Active tactile displays can present this information but are bulky and expensive (>£10,000). We will investigate the feasibility of a new mobile device interface that allows visually impaired users to interact naturally with visual information while on the move. As with a tactile interface, this new approach allows the user to scan the information by running their finger over the array. However, instead of raising pins to represent the imagery, audio signals will represent pixels in the image, using pitch and pan. This extends existing accessibility features, allowing maps and images to be easily “visualised” and particularly 3D images captured by the platform's 3D camera