A trade show held in Japan recently called AMEDIA showed off 18 new products aimed at helping the visually impaired better utilize technology. Among the devices on offer were an adaptive Braille display, which can convert text from a PC screen into the hand-read alphabet in real time, the REHA Vision "Color Talk," a handheld scanner which can recognize 220 colors and speak them to the user, and what appears to be GW Micro's
VoiceSense PDA (here being employed to help those with visual impairments in the IT sector). The collection of gadgets clearly illustrates the kind of time and energy being put into making modern technology more accessible to everyone. Hit the read link for a (translated) tour of the show.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matthew Hilario @ Dec 27th 2007 12:32PM
a/s/l? pic? eww you feel funny..
Jeebus @ Dec 28th 2007 1:07PM
I'm not visually impaired, and I can't even read the letters on that screen. Good job.
jtj @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:38AM
I'm in the visual impairment technology industry, and there are already many refreshable braille displays and Windows Mobile-based PDAs for blind users on the market and have been for some time. The braille display shown there looks pretty clunky and un-ergonomic. The "Color Talk" sounds pretty interesting though..