Computer Vision for the Visually Impaired: the Sound of Vision System

This paper presents a computer vision based sensory substitution device for the visually impaired. Its main objective is to provide the users with a 3D representation of the environment around them, conveyed by means of the hearing and tactile senses. One of the biggest challenges for this system is to ensure pervasiveness, i.e., to be usable in any indoor or outdoor environments and in any illumination conditions. This work reveals both the hardware (3D acquisition system) and software (3D processing pipeline) used for developing this sensory substitution device and provides insight on its exploitation in various scenarios. Preliminary experiments with blind users revealed good usability results and provided valuable feedback for system improvement.