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Technological Solutions for the Partially Sighted?

Posted by Cliff on from the living-in-a-darkening-world dept.

Jakeg asks: "My gran is currently losing her vision at a rapid rate and I'd desperately like to use technology to help her as best I can. She's used email on a computer before but is generally nervous of computers and technology. She's applied for talking books which come on tapes and CDs, some using DAISY . Can anyone here who is themselves partially sighted/blind, or knows someone who is, suggest what else I can do/buy for her? I was thinking perhaps of an DAP (MP3) jukebox loaded with her favourite music and audio books (which I could download from where?), which I could add more to every now and then. Solutions -must- be very easy to use, especially without good vision. I have a budget of around UKP500 (US$800)."

3 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Text to speech software + PG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't have problems with my vision beyond a little myopia, but would text to speech software and Project Gutenberg be of interest?

    Granted, computer-rendered speech has a long way to go, but there's plenty of public domain books available through PG in ASCII format.

  2. Apple? by midifarm · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I know that Apple has had aids for the visually impaired built into the OS for as long as I can remember. I know someone that's been using this option quite successfully. The iTunes Music Store has a large selection of titles to choose from in their audiobooks section. If you're looking for a portable solution the iBook is an economical choice. I hope this helps.

    Peace

  3. Some advice by Lenny+Nyktyk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok I happend to know alot about this stuff. First let me say I am too lazy and did not read the whole thread so forgive me if I am repeating what has already been said. I am not exactly sure what you are looking for or what you might think are the most useful. There are screen magnifiers ZoomText and WindowEyes which are the most common. I know ZoomText has a screen reader built into it (if you get level 2). I am not as familar with WindowEyes. Then there are screen readers Jaws is a very common screen reader. There are also some other programs that can be useful which are Kurzweil 1000/3000. 1000 is made for visually impared people pretty smiple basic interface. This program can be used to scan in text into the computer and then read it aloud. I know that Kurzweil 3000 is made more for dislexic people but I find some features useful. Both Kurzweil 1000/3000 come with a large selection of books in the public domain. I also know that the newer versions of Kurzweil 3000 can also download and read books from Bookshare.org and other sites that provide similar services. The nice thing about this feature is you can use the voices form Kurzweil to read the text. I have to say that the voices are pretty good sound still have some problems but are better than the ones that come with Mac's. Yes it is also true that windows XP and 2000 have screen magnifiers and screen readers. Though there are better ones out there. Most of the software will cost a chunk of change so I would research your options before investing. Anyway that is my 2 cents

    --
    The roots of education are bitter but the fruit is sweet. --Aristotle