Visual soundscapes from your augmented reality glasses

Visual soundscapes from your augmented reality glasses Abstract Rapid developments in mobile computing and sensing are opening up new opportunities for augmenting or mediating our reality with information and experiences that our biological senses could not directly provide Apart from possible mass-market use of augmented reality glasses in the near future, there also arise new uses in niche markets such as assistive technology for the blind: the visual content of live camera views may be conveyed through sound or touch I will in my talk discuss how this brings together research on new manmachine interfaces, visual prostheses, computer vision, brain plasticity, synesthesia, esthetics, and even contemporary philosophy It is also an area where progress in fundamental research (on brain plasticity) could quickly become socially relevant through software applications and training paradigms that are made globally available over the web, for use with widely available devices (smartphones, netbooks and camera glasses) Neuroscience research has in the past decade established that the visual cortex of blind people becomes responsive to sound and touch, with the visual cortex acting more like a "metamodal" processor of fine spatial information This supports the biological plausibility of sensory substitution for the blind, as in seeing (or "seeing") live camera views encoded in one-second soundscapes More info: www.seeingwithsound.com Peter Meijer received his M.Sc in Physics from Delft University of Technology in 1985, for work performed in the Solid State Physics group (nowadays Quantum Transport group) on non-equilibrium superconductivity and submicron photolithography From September 1985 until August 2006 he worked as a research scientist at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, initially focusing on black-box modelling techniques for analogue circuit simulation In May 1996 he received his Ph.D from Eindhoven University of Technology on the subject of dynamic neural networks for device and subcircuit modeling for circuit simulation From 1999 until 2003 he was cluster leader of the Future Design Technologies cluster within the research group Digital Design and Test at Philips Research, while working on nanotechnology and the simulation and modeling of RF effects in high-speed digital circuits In October 2006 he left Philips and joined the newly founded NXP Semiconductors, where he now works in the field of computer vision research In parallel with his regular work in the electronics industry, he developed an image-to-sound conversion system known as “The vOICe”, aimed at the development of a synthetic vision device (prosthetic vision system) for the totally blind Cooperation with Harvard Medical School led to a publication on the subject in Nature Neuroscience of June 2007  ... 1996 he received his Ph.D from Eindhoven University of Technology on the subject of dynamic neural networks for device and subcircuit modeling for circuit simulation From 1999 until 2003 he was... (nowadays Quantum Transport group) on non-equilibrium superconductivity and submicron photolithography From September 1985 until August 2006 he worked as a research scientist at Philips Research Laboratories...Peter Meijer received his M.Sc in Physics from Delft University of Technology in 1985, for work performed in the Solid State Physics group