After two and a half years of development, I've just released SonifEye on the iOS App Store. It gives those who are blind, low-vision, or just interested in exploring a new kind of perception a way to hear the colors all around them. As a sensory-substitution tool, a user can truly learn to hear color through SonifEye. Inspired by Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita’s Tactile Vision Substitution System (TVSS) and BrainPort, SonifEye is my ode to Dr. Bach-y-Rita and his establishment of the sensory-substitution field. As a small highlight of Dr. Bach-y-Rita’s research, TVSS studies showed that congenitally blind participants could learn to perceive visual events — catching a rolling ball and, even, the dancing flicker of a flame — through tactile stimulation on the small of the back. G Guarniero’s 1974 account documents how the three-week training produced durable, habitual visual perception through tactile sense [1]. [1] Guarniero G. Experience of tactile vision. Perception. 1974;3(1):101-4. doi: 10.1068/p030101. PMID: 4444915.

SonifEye: Dare to Hear Color

An app for hearing color and learning how.

An app for hearing color and learning how.