BLOG

Technology

The Bright-F Translates Colors Into Sound

One of the most frustrating parts about being blind has got to be trying to understand colors. Everything else can more or less be figured out on a conceptual level through sound, touch and smell, but for someone who has never even seen colors, the difference between red and blue is next to impossible to distinguish, even in your mind.

Thanks to designer Lifeng Yu, the Bright-F clothing scanner could start to make some sense of things. Point this handy gadget at an article of clothing, and it will detect the brightness, saturation, and hue of its color. It will then omit a tone that tells the user where it falls on the color spectrum. Not only will it distinguish drastically different colors, but it can actually help you understand the relationships between colors—the closer two shades are to each other, the more similar their corresponding tones will be. For example, magenta and pink will sound similar, while black and white will sound very different. Seems like it would be very useful for doing laundry or trying to coordinate your outfit. After the jump, see some more close up shots.