Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Incredible new app helps the blind recognize colors and shapes through music

Published Apr 4th, 2014 10:00PM EDT
Best iOS Apps EyeMusic

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

The medical world has been revolutionized by technology again and again, yet even the smallest advancement is still able to surprise and delight us. National Geographic has drawn our attention to one app that provides the blind with an aural alternative to vision. EyeMusic SSD (sensory substitution device), an app for iOS devices, captures shapes in the environment and translates them into what the developers call a “Soundscape” through musical notes.

Visually impaired individuals with the app will be able to plug in headphones, hold their phones up in front of them and allow the camera to translate the image into sound, but it takes some training to learn how to “read” the music. For example, a smile might be heard as “a string of high notes descending and then ascending again,” while a frown would be the opposite. If you want to give the app a try yourself, it’s free to download on the App Store.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.