SoundView is  an experimental vision substitution system  for the blind. Visual  images are  mapped onto  a virtual  surface with  a fine-grained color dependent roughness texture.  The user explores an image by moving a pointer device over the  image which creates sounds.  The current prototype uses a Wacom graphics tablet as a pointer device. The pointer acts like a virtual gramophone needle,  and the sound produced depends on the motion as well as on the  color of the area explored.  User studies were performed  on sighted  people to  test their  ability to  observe simple shapes with this device.