Simon Dogger

Prizes: Rene Smeets Award Winner, Melkweg Award Nominee

Department: Man and Communication
Website: www.simondogger.nl

Emotion Whisperer

A raised eyebrow, a cautious smile, a daring glance: facial expressions reveal a lot about someone’s feelings. But what if you cannot see them? After losing his sight, Simon Dogger found this a huge loss of quality in communication. His ‘Emotion Whisperer’ is a subtle tool that can prompt the visually impaired with the body language they would otherwise miss out on. It comes with a pair of camera glasses that sends images of conversation partners to an emotion recognition app. These are analyzed and translated into a sensory signal: emotions like attention, surprise or happiness are felt by a specific vibration of the small device in the palm of your hand. You can actually feel someone smiling.