Kia Launches 'soundscapes'

"At Kia, we believe movement inspires ideas, so we wanted to give visually impaired passengers the opportunity to experience the world differently," says David Hilbert, Marketing Director at Kia Europe. "With Kia 'Soundscapes,' we are exploring how technology can tear down barriers and help us create a more inclusive and accessible world."

To bring this vision to life, Kia says Innocean Berlin collaborated with creative coder Harald Schaack from grotesk.group to leverage the Kia EV9's ADAS system, capturing every element of the landscape surrounding the car. They then partnered with music producer Wonder Bettin from DaHouse GmbH to assign specific sounds to natural objects, based on how certain timbres naturally evoke ideas of size, texture and movement.

"Music holds limitless potential to inspire in ways previously unexplored. Through hearing, it awakens the imagination in ways other senses cannot, offering fresh perspectives on familiar things," says Wonder Bettin, Music Producer at DaHouse.

During the experiment, the car's AI system translates its surroundings into sound. The composed music captures the essence of the environment, creating a fully immersive experience for everyone inside. To showcase the experiment, Kia says it took two passengers who have vision loss on a road trip through some of the world's most stunning landscapes. Their emotional reactions to experiencing movement and gaining inspiration for the first time were captured in short documentary films.

"'Soundscapes' allows people to experience the world in a completely new way. It embodies Kia's philosophy of 'Movement that Inspires' and reflects our dedication to innovation and creating meaningful experiences," concludes Gabriel Mattar, CCO of Innocean Berlin.

For more information, visit www.innoceanberlin.com. 

*Image courtesy of contributor