Auditory substitution of vision: Pattern recognition by the blind

Pattern recognition in a computer environment was investigated in 6 early b lind and 6 blindfolded sighted subjects using auditory substitution of visi on. Subjects had to scan visual patterns displayed on a PC screen by moving the pen of a graphics tablet, which lead to corresponding displacements of the cursor on the screen. A small screen area centered on the pointer was then translated into sounds according to a visual-auditory transcription co de. Subjects were trained to learn this code during 12 one-hour sessions. P erformance of both groups significantly increased with practice. This indic ates that mental representations Of Visual patterns can be acquired through the auditory channel, even in the absence of visual experience. Moreover, blind subjects performed significantly better than sighted subjects did. Th is could be interpreted as a result of partial compensation for their loss of vision. Pattern recognition in a computer environment is thus possible u sing a fairly natural vision-to-audition coding scheme. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.