Meeting the MIs using Microsoft Soundscape – Michael Evans from Guide Dogs Australia

G’day there, I’m Michael Evans, and I am an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist at Guide Dogs Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, working in the Children’s Mobility Team since 2017. As an O&M, I support children who are blind or have low vision to navigate their environment safely, independently and effectively. I have a passion for technology, and I love introducing all types of tech to the kids I support. In particular, I love sharing Microsoft Soundscape with everyone and anyone.

I came across Microsoft Soundscape in 2018 when I was researching technologies to support my clients. As an O&M, I am very aware of the challenges facing the clients that I support, and I saw an opportunity to use Microsoft Soundscape to overcome some of these challenges. I saw the potential for Microsoft Soundscape to support my client’s orientation; open space travel; straight-line travel; to learn complex routes in shorter time frames; independent travel in unfamiliar environments; and overall provide them with a richer awareness of their environment.

I want to share with you some ways in which I use Soundscape to support my clients. Let me introduce you to one of them, Yuto Kawai. Yuto is twenty years old, born in Japan and moved to Melbourne, Australia, two years ago. He is currently completing his final year of Secondary College (High School) with plans to study Psychology at University. When he’s not studying, Yuto loves fishing, rock climbing, and riding his bike and electric skateboard. He has an adventurous spirit. Yuto is totally blind and has been since the age of eight due to Morning Glory Syndrome. I have been fortunate enough to support Yuto with his O&M since he arrived in Australia.

On one occasion, Yuto wanted my support to learn how to get from a bus stop to a nearby indoor rock-climbing centre. Before meeting with Yuto, I inspected the route, and I found a couple of options. The most direct route was significantly shorter than the alternative. However, it was the most challenging. But I knew that Yuto, being the competent traveller that he is and his proficiency in operating Microsoft Soundscape, would be able to tackle the more complex route. We discussed the options and decided that we would put Soundscape and his skills to the test and stick with the most direct route.

The route involved Yuto travelling through a train station entrance area to a footpath, which runs parallel with a train track (on his left) and a car park (on his right). Yuto travels along the footpath, but towards the end of the path, which dead ends, Yuto needs to veer right into the large open car park and locate a gravel path that passes between two large shed-like buildings. It should be noted that the gravel thoroughfare has no discernible features to indicate that it is accessible to pedestrians. The gravel thoroughfare leads to a gate-opening taking him to the end of a cul-de-sac where the indoor rock-climbing centre is located.

Our process was first to guide Yuto the entire route, while Yuto was listening to the announcements from Soundscape. Upon travelling back to the start of the route (bus stop), Yuto and I determined the best locations to set Soundscape Markers. The plan was to use the Audio Beacon for each consecutive Marker to get him there. Once we had set all our Markers and returned to the bus stop, Yuto decided that he would attempt the route, and I was going to film him. I was filled with excitement! Finally, we get to put Soundscape through its paces. Could Yuto successfully travel this relatively complex route on his first attempt with the aid of Soundscape? I had every confidence that it was going to work.

It should be noted that at the time of filming, Yuto’s Bose Frames had run out of battery, so he had to use Soundscape amplified from his iPhone speaker. Standing at the bus stop, Yuto sets an Audio Beacon for his first Marker, and off he goes navigating his way through the train station and reaching his Marker on the other side. He sets his next Marker and travels along the footpath parallel to the train track and car park. As he nears his next Marker, the garden bed toward the end of the footpath, he sets his Marker for the gravel thoroughfare and travels through the open car park, this is the tricky section, open space travel. It is also worth pointing out that Yuto uses Soundscape so efficiently that at times he can set Audio Beacons for Markers while on the move. Following the Audio Beacon through the car park, Yuto locates the gravel thoroughfare and eventually locates the gate-opening leading to the end of the cul-de-sac. He stops, sets an Audio Beacon for the indoor rock-climbing centre. He’s on his final leg. Yuto follows the footpath and locates the driveway entrance, which leads to a small car park and onto the front door of the indoor rock-climbing centre. Yuto turns towards me and smiles; he had arrived. Not only did Yuto arrive independently, but he did so with efficiency and elegance.

I asked Yuto to share his thoughts on the event, and this is what he wrote:

Thanks to this app, my orientation skills have improved dramatically. For example, I did a ten-minute walk from a station to a café in a rock-climbing gym about eight months ago. It worked perfectly. Previously, I had always felt very nervous when walking to a place that I had never been to before as there were always many risks of becoming lost. But when I used Microsoft Soundscape it gave me a lot of confidence and made me feel calm while I was walking. Thanks to Microsoft Soundscape I knew where I was walking just by listening to the information coming out of the phone speakers. To help me navigate, I set some Markers between the start and the end point at important intersections, landmarks, and any locations that could be dangerous or challenging to me. I then set an Audio Beacon on each Marker and used the different Audio Beacon sounds to help me find them. I knew when I was walking towards the Marker because the Audio Beacon would change from the drumming beat to a high-pitched tone. Using Soundscape in this way creates an augmented reality in audio that helps me to build a mental map of my surroundings and makes navigation much easier. This means I didn’t have to concentrate on memorising the route that I had just walked. When I eventually arrived at the café, I enjoyed my coffee very much. I had arrived safely, and I was very pleased at what I had accomplished.

This event proved to me what I initially thought about Soundscape, the potential, among other things, for it to support my clients to learn travel routes in a shorter time frame and travel independently in an unfamiliar environment. I have only been an O&M for a short time, and to see what this technology can do has challenged some of the more traditional methods of O&M service delivery that I was taught, not that they aren’t still important. For Yuto to travel this route independently, safely and efficiently on his first attempt is amazing! And this would not have been possible without Soundscape. And without Soundscape, this route would have taken him a lot longer to learn. And for Yuto, to feel more confident and calm traveling in an unfamiliar environment, and not feel nervous or worried about getting lost, is amazing! For me, I see Microsoft Soundscape as an indispensable tool for delivering O&M support. Microsoft Soundscape is a game-changer.

That’s it for now, but don’t go away. I have another blog coming up soon where I will share with you an amazing experience that Yuto had with Soundscape while riding his electric skateboard in an open place using Soundscape Markers.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact.

Michael

The Soundscape team would like to thank Michael for sharing this amazing story with us! We would love to hear about your experiences using Soundscape, so please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. For any other feedback, you can reach us at the Soundscape Community page.

Below are a few hints and tips which we think will be helpful for people trying to use Soundscape in this way.

Hints and tips

Orienting yourself using your Markers

Selecting the ‘Nearby Markers’ button on the Soundscape home screen will call out up to four of your Markers that are close to you. These Markers will be called out spatially, and the distance to them will be given, so you will be able to hear where they are relative to you.

Another way to do this is to go to the ‘Manage Markers’ screen from the Soundscape menu. On this screen, there is a list of all your Markers. In the top right of the screen, there is a ‘sort’ button, you sort them by distance, then you can run down the list and read the distance and direction to each of your Markers.

Creating a Marker on your current location

There are two ways to mark your current location:

• The first is to use the ‘Mark Current Location’ button in the top right of the Soundscape home screen
• The second is to select ‘Manage Markers’ from the Soundscape menu, ‘Add Marker’, and then ‘Use Current Location’.

Setting a Beacon on a Marker

Select “Set Audio Beacon” and from there “Browse your Markers”. You’ll then get a list of all your Markers, in order of the distance to them. If you then select the Marker you’d like from the list, this will set a Beacon on your Marker.

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