Last year researchers in India tried to fill in some of the missing info with their experimental SmartCane. The device uses an attached ultrasonic transmitter and a sensor that vibrates the cane to warn its users when an obstacle is within 3m. 

 

 

Students at the UK's Birmingham City University are developing a cane that can even identify acquaintances as they approach. Called the XploR mobility cane, it includes an embedded digital camera that analyzes faces of people walking by and compare their images against the database stored on a memory card in the cane's handle. 

 

 

If there's a facial recognition match, the cane alerts the user's smart phone via blue tooth. The phone that identifies the approaching person to the user via its speaker or earbuds (a vert small headphone, worn inside the ear). The students are building a prototype they'll test later this year. 

 

 

The hurdles are significant: facial recognition is a tough problem, especially outdoors. But if the XploR works, you can actually give the visually impaired a leg up (an advantage over) on everyone else, especially those of us who never remember people's names.