Sensory substitution is a field of study, where the information destined for one sense is mapped to a form which can be understood by another. An example is audio-visual sensory substitution, in which visual information is converted to sound.

In this talk, Rynhardt Kruger (PhD, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University) will discuss work done as part of his thesis, which explored audio-visual sensory substitution for conveying graphical diagrams to blind and visually impaired readers. He will describe algorithms for converting visual information into sound, including the vOICe algorithm which converts a visual image to a series of sinusoidal tone chords. He will also show how he combined the vOICe algorithm with gestures on a touch screen, allowing blind readers to explore diagrams by touch.

Fri 11 Aug C9, Music Technology Laboratory

13:00 – 13:45

FREE ENTRY, open to all interested listeners