Some blind people have learned to navigate their surroundings using echolocation, the technique of bouncing sound off of objects to determine their location, often by making clicking noises with the tongue. Echolocation allows the visually-impaired to walk down the street without assistance, and, in some cases, even ride a bike. The ability is almost like a superpower, but it’s relatively rare. However, a new device that uses musical notes to help the visually-impaired get a sense of their surroundings could make it easy for anyone to start echolocating. nBangalore based Innovation Hub Technologies (IHT), co-founded by engineers Vinod Deshmukh and SN Padmanabhan, has spent three years developing Ausion, a device that weighs 95 grams and resembles a bulky mobile phone with earbuds.

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