[Nfbf-l] Seeing with Sound - The vOICe News Release December 7, 2012

[Alan Dicey]

Appended is a news article from the University of Bath.

Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm

Dr Michael Proulx joins Psychology to continue research into senses.
07 December 2012.
Dr Michael Proulx has joined the University's Department of Psychology where 
he will be continuing research that aims to help blind people to 'see' 
through their other senses.

Dr Proulx, who is originally from Arizona, came to Bath from Queen Mary, 
University of London where he was based in the School of Biological & 
Chemical Sciences. He completed his MA and PhD degrees at Johns Hopkins 
University in Baltimore, and postdoctoral research in Germany.

It was while studying for his undergraduate degree in psychology in Arizona 
that Dr Proulx developed his interest in cognition.
He went on to study visual perception and attention in more detail as part 
of his PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins.
He then expanded his expertise to the other senses in Dusseldorf, Germany by 
working with blind people to understand more about how the messages we 
receive through sight can be translated by technology through other senses 
such as touch and hearing. His work was recently honoured by his selection 
as a torchbearer for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Much of his research stems from the use of the vOICe, a 'sensory-substitution' 
device used to convert visual information to sound.

The vOICe, invented by Dutch engineer Dr Peter Meijer, converts the pixels 
of an image taken on a webcam or smart phone into auditory signals which are 
sent to another part of the brain allowing the user to create an image in 
their mind.
The award-winning device significantly improves quality of life for blind 
people by allowing them to 'see with their ears'.

Dr Proulx's work shows how the 'visual' parts of the brain process 
information, even when nothing 'visual' can be seen. He said: "We use our 
eyes to see but it's the brain that translates the information to make an 
image. My research looks at how we can use that same information and 
translate it into an image in the brain through a different sense."

As well as teaching within the Department of Psychology, Dr Proulx will also 
be working with computer scientists at Queen Mary and Goldsmiths University 
on the next stage of his research.

The EPSRC-funded project aims to develop new software to support people who 
are visually impaired in leisure activities and in the workplace so they are 
less limited by the places they can work.

He said: "I am looking at the psychological side of the project and will be 
running tests to see how the software works on users and to find out how 
best we can represent information, for example, if there are certain sounds 
that best correspond with spatial information."

Dr Proulx lives in Bath with his wife and two children. He said: "I was 
attracted to Bath because of the links between psychology, computer science 
and engineering. It offers me a unique opportunity to be in an institution 
that values pure science and also real world impact. Bath is the perfect 
place for me to develop and take my research to the next level."

Source URL:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2012/12/07/proulx/

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