The Georgia Institute of Technology is in the process of developing a System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN) which will help the sight-impaired navigate through daily life. 

SWAN is a wearable computer:

Besides a pendant-sized wireless GPS tracker, there are light sensors and thermometers that help distinguish between indoors and outdoors. Cameras gauge how far away objects and obstacles are. A compass establishes direction. And an inertia detector tracks the roll, pitch and yaw of the user's head.

All the data are crunched by a computer in a backpack, which relays high-pitch sonar-like signals that direct users to their destinations. It also works with a database of maps and floor plans to help pinpoint each sidewalk, door, hall and stairwell.

Like a sonar device, the SWAN system sends out audible blips that quicken as users move closer to a preprogrammed target and slow as they get farther away. The sound of a hinge opening plays as it passes by a door, and cues can signal bathrooms, restaurants, stores, and other attractions.

The sounds are sent through bone-conducting headphones, specialized devices that are worn behind the ears to appease users reluctant to have their ears covered.

"This is not intended to replace a guide dog or a white cane," Walker said. "This just supplements it."

The SWAN reminded me of the research project one of our favorite Lego League Teams has been together for their presentation a couple years ago.