WP1(M1-M5) was dedicated to the preparation of the development of the Sound of Vision system. The first draft of the User Requirements Document (URD) was discussed by the Consortium. Guided by these, the design work progressed iteratively and produced a high-level guide and blueprint for the implementation of the system, described in the Architectural Design Document (ADD). The work produced a list of equipment to be bought and evaluated in WP2. Dissemination activities were initiated and online presence was established.
WP2 (M6-M13) was dedicated to experimenting and evaluating technical alternatives. The design concept of the virtual training environment was defined and he blueprint for the Sound of Vision solution was designed and written in a Detailed Design Document (DDD).
The main focus of WP3 (M14-M21) was the development of the first prototype of the Sound of Vision system. The test environments and procedures were ready at the end of M19 and testing was conducted in M20-M21. Taking into account the feedback of sighted and blind users, the performance of the initial prototype was improved.
During WP4 (M22-M29), the consortium developed the advanced prototype: improving existing modules, implementing and integrating additional modules, and performing unit, integration and system testing. The overall stability was increased, obtaining a fully functional hardware+software solution, working at interactive frame rates, supporting all the established audio-haptic encodings, with better ergonomics. During WP4, training protocols with the advanced prototype were made.
At the end of WP4 the prototype was subjected to:
usability and performance testing
BCI testing
technical internal testing
users feedback acquisition.
During WP5 (M30-M36), the Final prototype system was developed, built upon the advanced prototype from WP4. It included most of the essential functions envisaged for the system. The prototype was validated and improved through extensive testing, with very good results. Three types of tests were performed: technical tests; extensive usability and performance tests, in both lab and real world environments and tests with EEG.
The main result is the Final Prototype. It is a complex and powerful TRL 7-8 hardware & software solution accompanied by a comprehensive set of training resources. It works in real time with continuous 3D scanning and analysis of the surroundings, powerful and naturalistic audio-haptics encodings of the environment, good ergonomics, stable.
The next step is the transfer to industry and exploitation. Thus, the solution itself will be improved (miniaturization, ergonomics, reliability, functionality and costs) and become widely available to the visually impaired community.
The following are the key aspects of Sound of Vision:
Powerful 3D scene scanning and analysis
Rendering through naturalistic multimodal (audio-haptic) full-scene encodings
Additional tools for perception, safe and efficient mobility
Wearable
Developed and extensively tested with end-users
Rich and efficient training resources, to help users achieve proficiency
