A stereo auditory display for visually impaired

According to information from the World Health Organization (WHO) as of 1990, there are, approximately, 38 million people who are blind. This paper reports the progress of a funded research project to invent Malaysia´s very own electronic travel aid (ETA). The research aims to develop an auditory display system that converts pictures to sound in order to aid the blind in navigation. The experimental system consists of a digital video camera, and a portable computer as well as earphones. The developed software functions as an extractor of the data collected by the camera, processes and transforms the information into sound patterns to indicate the presence of an obstacle while the user is navigating. Assessment for the system is currently being carried out at the laboratory level and preliminary test has shown success in interpreting the sound pattern generated