Color improves “visual†acuity via sound
Open accessAbstract
Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution devices (SSDs) convey visual information via sound, with the primary goal of making visual information accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals. We developed the EyeMusic SSD, which transforms shape, location, and color information into musical notes. We tested the "visual" acuity of 23 individuals (13 blind and 10 blindfolded sighted) on the Snellen tumbling-E test, with the EyeMusic. Participants were asked to determine the orientation of the letter "E." The test was repeated twice: in one test, the letter "E" was drawn with a single color (white), and in the other test, with two colors (red and white). In the latter case, the vertical line in the letter, when upright, was drawn in red, with the three horizontal lines drawn in white. We found no significant differences in performance between the blind and the sighted groups. We found a significant effect of the added color on the "visual" acuity. The highest acuity participants reached in the monochromatic test was 20/800, whereas with the added color, acuity doubled to 20/400. We conclude that color improves "visual" acuity via sound.
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Levy-Tzedek et al. (2012) found after 25-minute familiarization and brief training, participants were able to reach targets using the SSD with high accuracy and efficiency, similar to visually-assisted task.
“After a 25-minute familiarization session and brief training, participants were able to reach the targets (using the SSD) with high accuracy and efficiency, similar to that achieved during a visually-assisted task (see also Levy-Tzedek, Riemer & Amedi, 2014).”
From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Levy-Tzedek, Riemer & Amedi, 2014
The Methods (Stimuli and procedure; page unavailable) describe an SSD task in which participants identified the orientation of Snellen E letters, not a target-reaching task. I searched for the 25-minute familiarization, reaching accuracy and efficiency, and a visually assisted comparison; no passage in our copy reports those findings. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1
Kristjánsson, Á., Moldoveanu, A., Jóhannesson, Ó. I., Balan, O., Spagnol, S., Valgeirsdóttir, V. V., & Unnthorsson, R. (2016) · Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience · doi:10.3233/rnn-160647 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Proulx, M. J., Gwinnutt, J., Dell’Erba, S., Levy-Tzedek, S., de Sousa, A. A., & Brown, D. J. (2015) · Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience · doi:10.3233/rnn-150541 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationSoundSight: a mobile sensory substitution device that sonifies colour, distance, and temperature
Hamilton-Fletcher, G., Alvarez, J., Obrist, M., & Ward, J. (2022) · Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces · doi:10.1007/s12193-021-00376-w · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Aging and Sensory Substitution in a Virtual Navigation Task
Levy-Tzedek, S., Maidenbaum, S., Amedi, A., & Lackner, J. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151593 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationBuchs, G., Maidenbaum, S., Levy-Tzedek, S., & Amedi, A. (2015) · Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience · doi:10.3233/rnn-150592 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Levy-Tzedek, S., Riemer, D., & Amedi, A.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Amedi, Amir
- ORCID
- Amedi, Amir
- Venue
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-11-11
- Volume
- 8
- Pages
- 358-358
- ISSN
- 1662-453X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4227506
- OpenAlex
- W2160047661
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 2.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- James S. McDonnell Foundation (220020284)
- Israel Science Foundation (ISF 1684/08, 1684/08)
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (310809)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility
- Keywords
- sensory substitution devices, color perception, visual acuity, blind people, visually impaired people
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