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Source: http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/03/11/israeli-researchers-blind-can-hear-colors-and-shapes/
Israeli Researchers: Blind Can "Hear" Colors and Shapes
(Jewish Business News) The blind and visually impaired are being offered tools, via training with sensory substitution devices (SSDs), to receive environmental visual information and interact with it in ways otherwise unimaginable. Using a visual-to-auditory SSD, users wear a miniature camera connected to a small computer (or smart phone) and stereo headphones. The images are converted into "soundscapes," using a predictable algorithm, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret the visual information coming from the camera. With the EyeMusic SSD, available free at the Apple App store, one hears musical notes to convey information about colors, shapes and location of objects. The work of Prof. Amir Amedi at the Center for Human Perception and Cognition at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine has been patented by Yissum, the Hebrew University's technology transfer company.