Handhelds for the Blind?

A not-so Anonymous Reader asks: "Is there any possible way, a blind person can READ a handheld like a simputer. I know there are text-to-voice converters, but really you can't beat reading. If you disagree with this, think about having a Physics passage or a complex sentence read out to you. I am sure it would be much more difficult to comprehend it that way then to read it. There are braille readers available, but none have been designed to be fit into a handheld device, until now. Most of them are in fact rather large. I would like to know if there are any projects that right now aim at fulfilling this void. Similarly, is there a way a blind person can input stuff into a handheld using braille input. Are there braille enabled handhelds. Is there any way a blind person can use it effectively. Do handhelds support accessibility standards?"

"I am now working at making a mall-lightweight piezoelectric display that can be used to display braille information and also take in braille input. I plan on using a transparent display that would make it possible to use the handheld fully by both a disabled and a normal person. The problem is with the piezo's. though they are light they are very very fragile, and it seems nutty to use solenoids or servos in a handheld. Major priorities are right now in miniaturizing the thing and reducing the fragility of the entire assembly . Can anybody give us some info about how we go about doing this."

Comments

They already have these

[JabberWokky]

I dated a blind woman in the late 80s who had a handheld far more functionally capable than most anything available nowadays (something about not having to worry about graphics...).

The one she used was called a "Braille'n'Speak" by Blaise (?). Dumb name, nifty device. It's apparantly been far outpaced by the compatition nowadays (well, it's been 15 years).

Basically, it's a standard braille keyboard (a chording keyboard invented decades ago) with seven keys, a speaker, headphone jack and a serial port, all in a small package. It allowed the user to interface it to a computer and use it for speech synthesis. This was the age of DOS (and BBSes, where she and most of the blind community were), so it was easy to tie into the BIOS and redirect text. You could take notes, and import and export text files.

All the users I saw who used it cranked up the speed of the speech until, to a non-user, it sounded like an unintelligable warble. This allowed the users (who were used to it), to whip though gobs of text as fast or faster than many people could read.

Now, if this was state of the art in the late 80s, I'd imagine that there are some significantly more advanced models. BTW - try IRC, as I've run into several VI users in various channels (VI as in visually impaired, not the editor). Heck, one of the serverops on Slashnet is legally blind.

BTW - if any blind people used text2b.com or text2b2.com (those aren't web sites, they are apps - remember when dot com meant an executable file?), I wrote those about that time... I released 'em as shareware and got a few hundred bucks, mostly from schools. Text to braille and text to grade 2 braille, pretty much for use as printer filters. I also had a semiworking MIDI to braille sheet music app. All written in Mix Power C.

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Evan