Blind woman who sees with sound
CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks science show has a fascinating piece on a woman who uses a technology called vOICe to replace the vision she lost when her eyes were damaged in an industrial accident. vOICe uses stereo cameras in a pair of cycling goggles to convert visual data into audio signals played through headphones, producing a lo-res version of her visual surroundings. One of the more fascinating elements of the program is the stuff on brain-function, and the new theories being engendered by this about the way that what we think of as the "visual cortex" is actually a general-purpose tool for processing sensory data about one's surroundings regardless of whether or not it arrives visuallly.
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(Thanks, Darren!)
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Cory Doctorow
Upcoming appearances
* Feb 9, 2012, DeKalb, IL: Day of Doctorow, NIU
* Feb 10-12, 2012, Chicago, IL: Capricon 32
* Feb 13, 2012, Arlington, TX: UT Arlington College of Engineering Distinguished Speaker Series
* Feb 16, 2012, Victoria, BC: 13th Annual Privacy and Security Conference
Recent books:
* Context (essays)
* With a Little Help (short stories)
* For the Win (YA novel)
* Makers (adult novel)
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