How can blind people read

The following are just a few of those methods people with vision loss use to access printed text. Both services provide a collection of thousands of audio recorded books, magazines and periodicals to qualifying individuals with print disabilities. The BookShare website also provides a broad collection of books in different audio and electronic formats. Subscribers can listen by using special software and audio players, or on their smartphones and tablets by downloading the mobile apps offered by each provider click on the links for more information.

Tools like the BookPort and Victor Reader are portable devices that can serve many purposes. These often include an audio player, digital recorder, radio and can even read text files. Newer versions can also connect to the Internet, and users can listen to online radio stations or instantly download audio books onto the devices. OCR, or optical character recognition, allows people to scan books, letters and other materials.

Once a page is scanned, the OCR software or device begins reading the text out loud. Audio cues or haptic buzzes help the user make their way through the text, for example changing pitch or gently vibrating to help nudge their finger into the correct position. In a study published in October, 19 blind people tried out the technology, spending a couple of hours exploring passages from a school textbook and a magazine-style page. On average, they were able to read between 63 and 81 words per minute and only missed a few words in each passage.

The average reading speed for an expert braille reader is around 90 to words per minute, while sighted individuals have an average reading speed around words per minute. Others were less certain, and suggested it was easier to find the next line and read at a steady pace using braille or other technology. It is a tactile code enabling blind and visually impaired people to read and write by touch, with various combinations of raised dots representing the alphabet, words, punctuation and numbers.

There are braille codes for the vast majority of languages — some symbols have different meanings for aspects such as accented letters, depending on the language. In its simplest form one letter is represented by one symbol, however contracted braille provides some shortening.

As a tactile code, it will only be of use if you can read and write it via touch if sight is lost completely or reading large print is no longer possible. Braille uses much more space on a page than a sighted writing system. Contracted braille, where a braille cell may represent a whole word or part of a word, is the usual system that helps to save space and also allows for quicker reading and writing.

Find out more about contracted braille. Audio cues and gentle vibrations from the device guide the user between lines or let them know when they need to adjust the position of their finger. In a trial outlined in the published study, 19 blind people tested out HandSight. On average, they were able to read between 63 and 81 words per minute, missing only a few words in each reading. This is lower than the 90 to words per minute rating of an expert braille reader and well below the words per minute of a person with regular sight.

Eventually, the creators of HandSight hope to build more functionality into the device, giving it the ability to discern things like patterns and colors. Even at its current state and despite the lower reading rates, HandSight still shows potential as a tool for the blind.