Ring that allows reading to the blind

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Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a audiolectura artifact that visually impaired people can use as a ring on the index for the text that will listen pointing.

The call FingerReader or ring finger or reader comes equipped with a tiny camera that scans the text. A voice synthesizer reads the text aloud whether books, restaurant menus or other reading material.

To read just swipe your finger across the text. A special program tracks the movement of the finger, identifies words and processes information. The device is vibrating motors that alert the reader when it departs from the text line, Shilkrot said Roy, who is developing the device in the Media Lab of the institute.

To Jerry Berrier, 62, who was born blind, the promise ring reader is its portability and functionality.

«When I go to the doctor, there are many forms that I want to read before signing,» he said.

He added that there are other character recognition devices on the market for people with low vision, but none that read directly.

Berrier runs a training and evaluation plan for a federal program that distributes technology to low-income residents of Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have lost sight and hearing. Works at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

«Wherever I go, for sighted people‘s material tells us about the products that we are to interact. I want to be able to do the same, «he said.

Pattie Maes, MIT professor who founded and directs the Fluid Interfaces research group that developed the prototype, said the ring equals reader «read with your finger tip and is much more flexible and immediate than any other solution they have now hand. «

The development of the artifact has required three years of coding, testing and working with people of low vision. Shilkrot warned that there is still a lot of work before it is ready for market, make it work even on cell phones.

Shilkrot said developers believe they can market the reader ring, but still can not calculate a price. The potential market includes some of the 11.2 million people of low vision in the United States, according to the national census.


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