In this Blind Vet Tech Quick Guides, News and Reviews podcast, we demonstrate and review Microsoft’s Soundscape. If you are looking for a simple to use app to explore your surroundings, Soundscape is perfect. Its minimalistic design makes it a snap to quickly know where you are and nearby items. The Revolutionary aspect stems from how binaural or 3d audio informs you of the direction of your destination or nearby points of interest. This means you need to possess stereo headsets, like Apple’s AirPods to fully enjoy the app. Here are the basic menu options to get you started:

* Call Outs are user selected items Sound Scape announces as you approach locations, intersections or periodically

* Beacons are user selected locations on the main screen where Sound Scape provides a continuous tapping sound towards the location

* My Location provides basic information about where you are

* Around Me identifies all items in a set radius around you

* Ahead Of Me only announces those items directly in front of you, based on the direction you are holding your iPhone

Overall, I like Microsoft’s Soundscape and feel it is worth the time to learn how to use it. This can serve either as a replacement or backup to Blind Square, based on the feature sets you desire. The major draw backs involve the inability to input addresses as a beacon or reference point. Second is the inability to drop a place marker at a destination.

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