A new campus design project plays soothing sounds to help visually impaired students navigate SF State.

Seven solar-powered metal boxes placed near school buildings and physical landmarks this Summer play recorded sounds that identify parts of the school. Boxes near large pedestrian intersections play wind chime sounds. Students walking by the Student Health Services building hear a drumbeat. Two boxes at university entrance points from 19th Avenue welcome visitors with birdcalls.

"It's a pleasing sound that we want to tingle you and provide sensory identification," said Mike Day, project manager. The design and industry senior said hearing the sounds is like smelling french fries cooking at In-N-Out Burger: both use senses other than sight to identify something nearby.

A partially blind student who used wind chimes to help find his way home inspired the project, which began Spring 2006. "We put wind chimes up (near campus buildings), and they added a nice facet, but they didn't work with no wind," Day said. To solve this problem, Day designed sound boxes, speakers housed in aluminum with solar panels and batteries, that would work in all weather conditions.

The boxes, collectively known as the "sound web," represent a collaborative effort—designed by students and funded by the grounds department and disability programs—to add pleasing aesthetics to the school and create an aural map to guide those who cannot see well or at all.

Visually impaired students who tested prototypes in the Spring liked them, said Geoff Brown, coordinator of the Disability Programs and Resource Center. "A good blind traveler learns to use multiple cues and clues," he said, and the sound web "adds an element to the collage of sounds and physical landmarks" on campus.

More sound boxes will be installed soon, and Day plans to hold meetings on campus this semester to describe the project and collect feedback. Students can also leave feedback by e-mailing Day at sfsusoundweb@gmail.com.

Podcast produced by Christina Nguyen, [X]press Staff Reporter