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Blind man creates app to hear colors

Shared by Ana Duarte on 2016-09-07 20:00

About the solution

Being blind since age seven, Victor used his resources at the university where he was studying to find himself a solution.

It became a problem for him when, in 2004, the student had to read maps of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, when he had to do that task for his doctoral work, and he realized he wasn’t able to do it due to his condition.

The software has an image-to-speech feature that reads aloud the numerical values of the x and y coordinates as well as the value associated with a color at any given point on the image or map.

“Color is something that does not exist in the world of a blind person. I could see before... But there is no way that I can think of to give an exact idea of color to someone who has never seen before”, Victor explained.

Victor had the help of engineering student Ankur Moitra and research associate James Ferwerda.

"Tackling complex color images is only one problem out of many that blind scientists are facing. But I think this is a pretty important idea", Victor said.

Adapted from: http://www.cis.rit.edu/jaf/press/cornell_chronicle_012705_pg5.pdf

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This solution shall not include mention to the use of drugs, chemicals or biologicals (including food); invasive devices; offensive, commercial or inherently dangerous content. This solution was not medically validated. Proceed with caution! If you have any doubts, please consult with a health professional.

DISCLAIMER: This story was written by someone who is not the author of the solution, therefore please be advised that, although it was written with the utmost respect for the innovation and the innovator, there can be some incorrect statements. If you find any errors please contact the patient Innovation team via info@patient-innovation.com

About the author

Victor Wong, from Hong Kong, is a blind man who, while he was a student, developed a software, in 2005, that translates colors into sound. This application purpose is to help him to read and understand colored maps of the atmosphere.

Comments (2)

  • Subhan Mon, 08/19/2019 - 14:13

    Creating mobile apps requires top quality stuff, system, and prime skills as well. You want to check vivaessays quality first? then you have to visit their website to read outstanding stuff and demo free stuff as well.

  • Anna1 Tue, 06/02/2020 - 08:35

    This is a very interesting article on how our brain works. I really like articles on the subject of nature. I think that it is worth more to popularize such materials.

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