UBC team wins prize for device that helps people “see” sound

CKNW reported on four UBC students who won 25,000 euros at the Ericsson Innovation Awards in Stockholm for Sound Vision, a software application that turns 3D spatial information into sounds and could help visually-impaired people navigate their surroundings. 

Students Karan Grover, Tanha Kabir, Jonathan Ho, and YK Sugishita, competed against 843 teams from 72 countries.

“We really wanted to develop a product that was for blind people. So we really took the initiative to talk to blind people and see what were their pains, instead of just developing product from our perspective,” said Jonathan Ho.