Speaker for blind

Design often facilitates product use and interaction through visual signals such as lights,
displays, and icons. But what happens when the user is blind?
This project, developed by fifth-semester Industrial Design students at Aalborg University, explores the creation of a product family consisting of three sound systems designed
to optimize ease of use for all users, based on the needs of blind users. The aim of this
paper is to transparently present the students’ process of developing product architecture where 80% of components are reused across variants while addressing diverse user
needs.
Throughout the process, the work is structured into six milestones, followed by a final
sprint. For each milestone, iterations are made on the target groups, the problem statement, and the sound systems. With each milestone, the focus converges and diverges
until the final design proposal is reached.
The project resulted in the product family, Sound Sense, which is based on a basic structure where the variants have permanent add-ons. This setup focuses on making changes
during the production of the individual components. Instead of modular components, the
focus is on modular molds, which enable the production of different variants by adapting
the same molds to specific needs.
With this method, the possibilities for combinations are limited, but production efficiency is
significantly increased. The Sound Sense family emphasizes tactile and audio feedback
through interface layout and familiar metaphors, while the complexity and sound are tailored to the users’ relationship with sound and their level of focus.