On August 21, 2017, millions of people viewed a total solar eclipse as it passed through the United States. The Eclipse Soundscapes Project delivered an accessible multi-sensory experience of this exciting celestial event that allowed everyone, including people who are visually impaired, and others who were unable to see the eclipse with their own eyes, to experience the event. The project, supported by NASA’s Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC), developed a mobile application that included audio descriptions of the eclipse in real time and an interactive “rumble map” that allowed users to visualize the eclipse through touch and sound.

PROJECT ORIGINS

The idea for Eclipse Soundscapes came from Dr. Henry “Trae” Winter, a solar astrophysicist with a penchant for scientific engagement projects. Winter noticed a deficit in accessibility while building solar wall exhibits for museums. He observed that some “accessible” exhibits merely included the item’s name in braille, while other exhibits — including his own — had no accessibility component at all. Winter began to brainstorm an astrophysics project that would use a multi-sensory approach to engage a larger percentage of the population, including the visually impaired community. The “Great American Eclipse” of August 2017 seemed like the perfect opportunity. With this idea as the inspiration, a team that included astrophysicists, mobile application developers, an educator, members of the BVI community, and accessible media and audiovisual specialists worked together to create the The Eclipse Soundscapes Mobile Application.

TOUCH AN ECLIPSE

The Eclipse Soundscapes’ app features an interactive “rumble map,” which uses a smartphone’s touch screen and vibrational feedback to demonstrate the physical qualities of an eclipse. The rumble map displays photos of the eclipse at various stages. When users touch the image, the app reads the greyscale value of a pixel underneath their finger, and vibrates the phone with a strength relative to the brightness of the section. As users move their fingers around the Sun, their smartphone will vibrate more. As they move their fingers into the dark spaces blocked by the Moon, the vibration will diminish and disappear.

ECLIPSE SOUNDSCAPES 2.0

The ARISA Lab has taken over the management of the Eclipse Soundscapes Project and is planning to add new features and content to support upcoming total and annular solar eclipses. Please stay tuned for some exciting news coming soon!