Seeing sound: A camera for the blind

Recent discoveries by a scientist in California suggest that some people are born with the ability to hear sounds when they see certain images. Melissa Saenz at the California Institute of Technology found that people with hearing-sight synaesthesia had an audible experience when seeing a series of visuals.

Experiencing other senses from stimuli may also be induced artificially, as a new invention by Samsung China proves. A designer at the telecommunications company has developed an invention that takes photos from sound waves it collects. Chueh Lee’s camera, intended for use by visually impaired people, is held up and aimed like a normal camera, then, rather than taking a photo, records the surrounding sound for three seconds. A Braille display then creates a tangible representation of the sound waves recorded, so the person can also feel the photo.

These experiences demonstrate that the visual representation of a brand or advertisement may hold greater sensory meaning to certain types of people with this unique ability – and may lead to further developments in design that can be heard as well as seen.