As one walks into the plush campus of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) in the afternoon, one can see some visually challenged students walking in groups. The boys measure their steps towards the student hostel’s mess.
The campus is built on 1,700 acres of land and it takes time to navigate between hostels and the schools. At times, these students return to hostel rooms unable to find the right way, leaving important work unattended. Having no or partial vision is a hindrance.
However, their auditory skills are sharp. Dr Kavita Vemuri, an alumna of UoH, thought of using this trait to help the visually challenged community in the university navigate on their own. Vemuri, a faculty member at International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H), took the help of music to help the visually-challenged students.
Her idea was simple but unique—hanging wind chimes at important junctions and buildings. Sounds of distinct frequency from the instruments help the visually challenged students find out the location, they are in. As soon as she came up with the idea, she put it into practice by hanging 10 chimes in the campus.
The instruments are hung using paint-rollers as binding wires do not hold for long. Each chime has tubes of equal length and diameter. The measures vary from one chime to another. When wind hits the tubes, or when somebody nudges them, the tubes produce distinct sounds.
Going by frequency of sound, it is hoped that the students can recognise the location, and move further. Vemuri’s area of work is Cognitive Neuro-sciences and Assisted System, which deals with helping those people with disabilities to lead a normal life.
“An important feature of the visually-challenged is their auditory skill. We wanted to come up with something which requires low maintenance,” she explains.
A final year student of ImSc (Physics), Surya Abhishek Singaraju (21), is conducting a research under Vemuri’s guidance to make this project a success. The objective is to create a sound-based path system. “We have placed the chimes at important places. Going by the frequency of sound, they would be able to identify the place they are in,” Singaraju says.
Student Rajupalem Vinod Kumar Reddy, who has low vision admits the chimes have helped them find the locations.
But things have hit a block as four of the 10 chimes that were put up as part of the project have gone missing a few days back. And in such , Singaraju has appealed to the UoH students to come forward and support the cause.