Technology has come a long way in recent years. The current smartphone has below being a telephone to become a multimedia device that we rarely use to call and from which we can take a lot of advantage beyond what it usually offers us, on people with visual problems, who seem the great forgotten by this sector.
But with a little imagination, smartphones offer us endless possibilities, especially for people who some kind of deficiency, such as visual. Thanks to the Microsoft Soundscape application, visually impaired people can "see" the world around them using their ears.
Microsoft has not designed or created any new hardware, artificial intelligence, or machine learning to create this application, it has only dedicated itself to get the most out of your components of a traditional smartphone with an Internet connection, something that more companies should do, but for whatever reason, they do not see it “economically” profitable.
The Soundscape application is not an application that is responsible for reading aloud all the elements found on a map, but rather uses a 3D audio system to offer us information about the stores or items that are around of our position, indicating their relative position. This allows users to create a map of the area in their head, ideal for anyone with low vision.
Soundscape uses a beacon system, not physical, but virtual that can be added to each of the elements to be highlighted on a map, and that as we go through them it informs us so that at all times we know where we are, in addition to offering us the corresponding indications to be able to go to our destination as if it were a GPS application.
Soundscape makes one of Microsoft's maps, and for now only the iOS app is available in the United States only. In order to get the most out of the application, we need stereo headphones, something that will not be a problem unless we use headphones from the 80s or 90s.
Once again it is demonstrated how Microsoft bets not only on its main business, the sale of software and in recent years also hardware, but also invests money in creating projects for help or try to improve the quality of life of some users. A little less than a year ago, Microsoft showed us a project in the form of a smart bracelet that allows Parkinson's patients to control, as far as possible, the tremors in their hands so that they can lead a normal life.