Visually impaired people will be able to feel and hear the solar eclipse

When eclipse watchers gaze skyward, blind or visually impaired individuals will be able to hear and feel the celestial event.

Auditory and tactile devices will be available at public gatherings on April 8th, when a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America, and the Moon obscures the Sun for a few minutes.

«Eclipses are very beautiful things, and everyone should be able to experience them once in their lifetime,» said Yuki Hatch, a high school senior in Austin, Texas.

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How will blind people ‘see’ the eclipse?

Hatch is also a visually impaired student and space enthusiast who hopes to one day become a computer scientist for NASA.

On eclipse day, she and her peers at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired plan to sit on the grass-covered courtyard of the school.

They will listen to a small device known as a LightSound box, which translates changes in light into sounds.

When the Sun shines, delicate high-pitched and flute-like notes will be heard, according to The Associated Press.

The magic of the LightSound device

As the Moon begins to cover the sun, the mid-range notes will resemble those of a clarinet. The darkness will be represented by a deep snapping sound.

«I’m excited to actually be able to hear the eclipse instead of seeing it,» Hatch commented.

The LightSound device is the result of a collaboration between Wanda Díaz-Merced, a blind astronomer, and Harvard astronomer Allyson Bieryla.

Puerto Rican Díaz-Merced often converts her data into audio to analyze patterns for her research.

There will be devices in Mexico, the US and Canada

In 2017, a prototype was used for the first time during the total solar eclipse that crossed the United States.

Since then, the portable LightSound device has been used in other eclipses.

This year, they are collaborating with other institutions with the aim of distributing at least 750 devices to locations organizing events in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

They organized workshops at universities and museums to teach people how to make the devices, and instructions for building them are available on the group’s website for individuals to construct them on their own.