A visually impaired New York woman has spent the last several months learning a new skill: how to hear the upcoming total solar eclipse.
On April 8, areas across North America will go dark for 3 minutes and 28 seconds at 3:20 p.m. as the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, an incredibly rare occurrence. One of those places includes Kaki Smith’s hometown of Rochester, according to the city’s NBC affiliate WHEC.
Smith was diagnosed with an ocular condition called Uveitis when she was in second grade. The condition has caused the tissue in her eye wall to degenerate over time, impacting her eyesight.
Although Smith was determined not to let the diagnosis take much from her, it did mean she would never fulfill her childhood dream of being an astronomer. But, with the once-in-a-lifetime event quickly approaching, Smith is taking a new approach to experiencing the solar magic.
During 2017’s partial eclipse, Smith said she felt left out of the conversation as the people around her experienced the rarity.
“Everyone else was talking about what they were seeing and all the places they were going with friends to watch this eclipse,” she said.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
With new technology, though, she’s turning that frustration into wonder, Smith told WHEC.
Using sonar technology, Smith will be able to hear the eclipse in real time all while sharing it with others who are visually impaired during a local event.
“As it gets darker, incrementally by the minute, those tones will decrease,” Smith told WHEC.
The lower tones represent darkness and higher frequencies represent light.
Smith, who works as an outreach coordinator for a local coalition, is partnering with organizers in the area for the free event. The celebration is set for the day of the eclipse and will be focused on inclusivity and empowerment.
“We can really step back and realize how little we are in the grand scheme of things,” Smith told WHEC. “And how each of the folks we bring into our days matter just as much.”
