Development of a New Space Perception System for Blind People, Based on the Creation of a Virtual Acoustic Space

The aim of the project is to give blind people more information about their immediate environment than they get using traditional methods. We have developed a device which captures the form and the volume of the space in front of the blind person and sends this information, in the form of a sounds map, to the blind person through headphones in real time. The effect produced is comparable to perceiving the environment as if the objects were covered with small sound sources which are continuously and simultaneously emitting signals. An experimental working prototype has been developed, which has allowed us to validate the idea that it is possible to perceive the spatial characteristics of the environment. The validation experiments have been carried out with the collaboration of blind people and to a large extent, the sound perception of the environment has been accompanied by simultaneous visual evocation, this being the visualisation of luminous points (phophenes) located at the same positions as the virtual sound sources.