The Sound Of Football Levels The Playing Field For Blind Athletes (fastcompany)
A Swedish campaign, part of the Pepsi Refresh Project, fits visually impaired
soccer players with sense-enhancing technology that creators hope will have
off-pitch applications.
Pros vs. Joes is a relatively common sporting device--retired professional
athletes square off against capable amateurs in a test of athletic skills. But
what happens when the Joes in such a pairing also happen to be visually
impaired? Swedish agency Åkestam Holst leveled that seemingly uneven playing
field with the Pepsi-funded project, The Sound of Football.
The Sound of Football paired one team of former football pros with another
team made up of visually impaired players, and fitted them both with equipment
that allowed them to hear, rather than see, what was happening on the playing
field around them. The agency hopes that the technology developed for the
project will help the visually impaired off the pitch too.
The Sound of Football is part of the Pepsi Refresh project, a 2010 campaign
created out of TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles that encourages and funds innovative
ideas. The campaign rolled out to more than 25 countries this year.
Via the Sound of Football project, Akestam Holst fitted each player with a
blackout visor and a mounted ...
US $219.99