Route to independence: Ben identifies his Melbourne tram by sound - but a new app means he won’t have to

Unlike most commuters plugged into a podcast or a Spotify playlist, Ben Harrington has to listen intently to the noises Melbourne trams make as they approach a stop - it's how he tells his regular 96 service apart.

As is common for most blind and vision-impaired travellers, Harrington has struggled to navigate public transport in Melbourne. He is largely unable to distinguish the route numbers displayed on tram exteriors, and he can't read timetables.

As a result the 24-year-old has come to learn the subtleties in different sounds that various models of trams emit as they approach - and now he's able to distinguish the newer model used on the 96 route he relies on to travel to and from his home in Fitzroy North.

But it's not a foolproof system. The 86 route is serviced by the same model trams as the 96.

"It's useful for some routes but, if I'm on Bourke Street and the same models are pulling up, I can't tell," says Harrington, who has the rare genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa and has lost enough vision to be considered legally blind.

"I've gotten on the wrong tram many a time," he says.

Now a new technology is set to change the way people with vision impairment navigate the world's largest tram network.