a sound first approach to opening the world
Empowering Non-verbal Communication for Blind & Low-Vision teenagers
/ Client: Visio school
/ Industry: education for low sight/blind secundary schools
/ Deliverables: to make social connection, self-expression And confidence learnable through sound
Project and concept / sound strategy: Stéphanie Dufrane
Sound design: Manfred Roovers
Sonic research: Caitlyn Trevor
This educational initiative rethinks how young people with visual impairments learn essential social and emotional skills.
We make social connection, self-expression, and confidence learnable through music, voice and guided interaction.
This project is co-created with educators and grounded in science/classroom insights. The full lesson framework, exercises and behavioural goals are derived from field testing in schools.
The science behind the project
Research in auditory cognition shows that blind and low-vision individuals rely on:
prosody (pitch, tone, rhythm) to infer intention
vocal spectral cues to decode emotional nuance
micro-dynamics in breath and articulation to detect confidence, discomfort, attraction or withdrawal
spatial hearing to read proximity, group dynamics and safety
The project’s exercises are designed around these abilities: students learn to recognise, interpret and navigate social situations using the channel that is already central to their perception: sound.
Rethinking Social Communication Through Sound and music
This project challenges one of the biggest blind spots in education: most social-emotional learning is designed from the perspective of sighted people.
We build a sound-first curriculum that starts from the perceptual strengths of blind and low-vision students.
Not as compensation or adaptation, but as a fundamentally different way of understanding and navigating the world.
The project develops scientifically grounded, sound-only educational material that helps students:
understand non-verbal communication through auditory cues
decode emotion and intention through examples built from daily life
shape self confidence, identity and autonomy through sonic awareness
Everything is built on what sound uniquely makes possible and music examples that speak to the age group.
Play the game of non verbal cues with our non-Dutch rap line up (so students can’t relate to vocabulary). No cheating, no looking at lyrics or pictures!)
Example A: Kery James, Banlieusards
Example B: Dave, Selfish
Example C: FRESH!!! MFS, Henny K
Example D: Trajectoire, Nepal
Example E: Last train 2 Shibuya, Guè, Cooking Soul, Sayf
Why It Works
Because it treats blind and low-vision teens not as exceptions, but as young people with the same desire for connection, confidence and self-expression as anyone else.
