Auditory sensory augmentation to support table tennis games for people with vision loss

Abstract

People with vision loss often face limitations in regular sports games with standard rules and equipment. For example, in current blind table tennis, conventional rules are modified so that the ball rolls along the table instead of bouncing. In this work, we propose an auditory sensory augmentation system to support traditional table tennis in three dimensions. We capture the trajectory of the table tennis ball using two neuromorphic event cameras and sonify the path of the ball using loudspeakers mounted near the left and right edges of the playing table. The two event cameras capture rapid changes in brightness allowing fast and precise ball tracking. The ball's 3D trajectory is then sonified using four lines of loudspeakers mounted at two different heights near the left and right edges of the playing table. We present a preliminary implementation and investigation of the proposed sensory augmentation system with a focus on the technical and perceptual challenges.