Americans in 15 states will look to the sky today (8/4) to see the total solar eclipse. 31.5 million people are located along the path of the eclipse, while over 300 million people will have the opportunity to experience even a partial eclipse. Still others, who do not see, will hear her.
And for Harvard University astronomers working to turn the rare sight into sound, the eclipse will create a deal. “We mapped bright sunlight to the sound of a flute,” said Allyson Bieryla, an astronomer at Harvard. “Then it goes to the sound of a clarinet and during totality it goes down to a low ‘click'” he says.
Scientists have designed a box-shaped device—slightly larger than a cell phone—that converts light into acoustic tones in a process called sonification. The sounds change according to the intensity of the light, allowing people with blindness or low vision to follow the progress of the eclipse.
The device is called LightSound and hundreds of them will be available at various events to watch the eclipse as reported by CNN.
“The image of the total eclipse is as breathtaking as it is visual, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only way you can interpret things or experience them,” said Bieryla, who directs the LightSound Project. “And for someone who can’t see, it takes a different sense to experience it,” he added.
How the idea was born
The idea for LightSound was born during the last total eclipse in the United States in 2017. Bieryla started the project with astronomer Wanda Díaz-Merced, who is blind and relies on similar technology to do her research. They built three prototypes – one in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and two in Kentucky.
The current version of LightSound is improved over the original, with audio always at the fore. The device uses a light sensor to receive data – in the case of an eclipse the data is the intensity of the light, Bieryla said. The light intensity values are then mapped to an instrument sound using a MIDI board. This allows the sounds to change as the moon blocks the sun and the Earth darkens, so people with blindness can interact with the eclipse in ways they couldn’t before.
#Eclipse #sounds #matters
