(coordinator)
Háskóli Islands – University of Iceland (UoI) is the project coordinator and has an extensive management experience, evidenced by the national and international projects finished and in progress where it has been/is coordinator. On the technical side, University of Iceland has strong focus and expertise in ICT, acoustic emission, brain dynamic analysis and signal processing. In Sound Of Vision, they will bring scientific and practical experience in converting the environment into sounds, the emission of these sounds and sound processing. They also bring the crucial expertise in neurosciences, brain dynamic analysis that is essential for identifying best sonification strategies. Expertise in industrial software development will allow UoI to manage to complexity of the project and achieve the established high quality standards.
Lead contact and project coordinator: Rúnar Unnþórsson
2. University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania
(partner)
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB) is the biggest Romanian university and a prestigious research institution. The Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers is the flagship of the university in terms of technological advance, scientific quality and research innovation. Sound of Vision’s UPB team is formed by highly qualified researchers, with tens of years of experience in IT innovation, especially in medical IT, computer graphics and virtual reality. This team will bring their expertise and innovative capacity, using latest IT technologies (especially virtual and augmented reality, advanced computer graphics, and also in the processing and the synthesis of sound signals) to find the best conceptual, design and implementation solutions for Sound of Vision. Technical Agile project management is another essential expertise and contribution brought by UPB to the project, backed up by experience in many national and European research and development projects, a significant guarantee that the project will proceed according to plan, reaching all objectives at the desired quality.
Lead contact: Alin Moldoveanu
3. Szechenyi Istvan University, Hungary
(partner)
Szechenyi Istvan University (SZE) has expertise and dedicated infrastructure in the fields of professional recording studio, sound and vibration, high frequency and wireless and acoustic testing, listening tests and measurements. The teaching in the BSc and MSc education includes sound engineering, telecommunication, image and sound processing and psychoacoustics. Particularly useful niche expertise for Sound of Vision includes human spatial hearing research including binaural recording and measurement techniques, loudspeaker and headphone playback systems, subjective evaluation and setup listening test, sound design and evaluation, parameter based sonification, research aiming at the blind community and development of electronic travel aids and user interfaces for them. Also brings haptics related expertise.
Lead contact: György Wersényi
4. Fondazione Istituto Per L’interscambio Scientifico, Italy
(partner)
Fondazione Istituto Per L’interscambio Scientifico (ISI) brings essential experience in brain dynamic analysis (automatic extraction of cues from EEG recordings), assistive technologies, audiovisual signal processing, behavioural modelling and multimodal signal processing.
Lead contact: Kyriaki Kalimeri
5. Technical University of Iași, Romania
(partner)
The expertise in portable devices and in computer graphics domain recommends Technical University of Iași (TUI) as being very suitable for the design and the development of the hardware and the software solutions needed to generate the 3D model of the surrounding environment, especially regarding wearability and ergonomy aspects.
Lead contact: Simona Caraiman
6. Icelandic National Institute For The Blind, Visually Impaired and Deafblind, Iceland
(partner)
Icelandic National Institute For The Blind, Visually Impaired and Deafblind (NIB) provides services mainly in the rehabilitation and education area and does not provide initial medical diagnosis or medical treatment. The Center is responsible for a national database regarding visually impaired and blind individuals. The Center works with other institutes for appropriate services such as local services for: transportation, assistance at home, audio library, and hearing center for screening for hearing. Their presence in the consortium will ensure the required medical and caretaking expertise for working with visually impaired people, as well as reaching and promoting the target patients community and decision makers.
Lead contact: Þorbjörg Gunnarsdóttir
7. Info World, Romania
(partner)
Info World (IW) is the largest company in Romania entirely focused on providing customized, modular eHealth solutions. Its product stack includes end-to-end solutions that are focused on all facets of healthcare from the management of the healthcare unit to patient-centric solutions. The company is also active in empowering patients with regards to their healthcare status. Furthermore, Info World is active in research, where it has coordinated and participated in several completed or ongoing international projects. As a technical partner, Info World will employ its expertise within the development and commercialization of standards compliant eHealth solutions within several tasks of the project.
Lead contact: Cornel Botea
8. Lodz University of Technology, Poland
(partner)
Lodz University of Technology (TUL) is a center of excellence in IT based assistive technologies for visually impaired people, with a record of many research projects in this field, concluded with concrete solutions. Many of their recently completed or current research results will directly feed into Sound of Vision.
Lead contact: Michal Bujacz
9. Fundacja Instytut Rozwoju Regionalnego, Poland
(partner)
Fundacja Instytut Rozwoju Regionalnego (FIRR) works both for the life improvement of people with disabilities and directly for people with disabilities, mainly for people with visual impairment. It offers various trainings, rehabilitation activities including orientation and mobility, computer and assistive technologies trainings and it contributes to various technology development initiatives for visually impaired people.
Lead contact: Anna Rozborska