Microsoft Soundscape
2018 - 2023, 5 years old
A Microsoft Research app that used 3D spatial audio to call out streets, shops, and intersections to blind and low-vision users as they walked.
Soundscape came out of Microsoft Research in 2018 after more than six years of work, and it did something few products attempted: instead of turn-by-turn directions, it painted an ambient audio map, calling out shops, parks, and intersections in 3D sound as a blind or low-vision user moved through them. It was admired by the people who relied on it and was never built to make money. Microsoft pulled it from the App Store on January 3, 2023 and ended support on June 30, releasing the code as open source so the disability community could try to keep it alive. The funeral was gentler than most, but a beloved accessibility tool maintained by a trillion-dollar company still ended up as a volunteer project, the company's attention having moved on to Copilot.
- Founded
- 2018-03
- Shut down
- 2023-06-30
- Funding raised
- Undisclosed
- Years alive
- 5
- Founders
- Microsoft
Sources
Related departures
New entries and essays by email.
Occasional dispatches when something dies. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.