Vision through other senses: Practical use of Sensory Substitution devices as assistive technology for visual rehabilitation

Abstract

Visual-to-auditory Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) are non-invasive sensory aids that provide visual information to the blind via their functioning senses, such as audition. For years SSDs have been confined to laboratory settings, but we believe the time has come to use them also for their original purpose of real-world practical visual rehabilitation. Here we demonstrate this potential by presenting for the first time new features of the EyeMusic SSD, which gives the user whole-scene shape, location & color information. These features include higher resolution and attempts to overcome previous stumbling blocks by being freely available to download and run from a smartphone platform. We demonstrate with use the EyeMusic the potential of SSDs in noisy real-world scenarios for tasks such as identifying and manipulating objects. We then discuss the neural basis of using SSDs, and conclude by discussing other steps-in-progress on the path to making their practical use more widespread.