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Ask Slashdot: Building an Assistive Reading Device?
RulerOf writes "A few years ago, my girlfriend's grandfather was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. Ever since, he has had progressively more trouble with daily activities. While his wife and family are able to help him with most things, at the age of 88 and without many living friends left, he dearly misses the ability to read printed text. He was able to get by for some time with magnifying glasses and other basic aids but now even those do not help. Recently, a local clinic which specializes in treatment for low-sight and blind individuals made him aware of and showed him several assistive reading devices that successfully allowed him to read. He mentioned this to his family members, and when I was told about it, I thought that these devices sounded like they were not much more than a camera attached to an LCD monitor or television with a little bit of special software thrown into the mix." (Read on below for more.)
RulerOf continues: "Some investigation online turns up products such as these, and their prices are so prohibitively high ($2400-$3000) that the manufacturer won't even list them on their website. Furthermore, the effects that these devices can apply to the pictures they output look awfully similar to the effects filters built into many webcams, and the ability to zoom and pan a live view of the screen is something that I've done effortlessly for years on OS X, and that I know exists in many Linux desktop environments. My current plan is to try to build something like this with a used Mac Mini, a Logitech HD Webcam with a full-screen view of the camera always up, and a Magic Trackpad to control zoom level and screen position, plugged into a huge LCD TV that he already owns. Have any of you ever built something like this? Am I wrong in thinking that the ease of use would be comparable to the purpose-built devices when configured correctly? Is this something that might work better with a newer nettop device, a digital camera or camcorder, and Windows (where I'm skilled at automating things) or Linux at the core instead?"
One of my work colleges is working on an identical project. You two should talk. Email me at jasonmac404 atsymbol gmail .... and I'll put you two in contact.
If the goal is to be able to read beloved old books that he already has etc, then sure, go for it. But if it's just the desire to be able to enjoy books, then the library available on Audible.com (and others), is fantastic. They're not your old 'books-on-tape' ... great selection, very good readers, and it's very satisfying to have someone read to you. If you've already got the computer and internet service, please check it out.
If he's looking to purchase new books to read - what about a Kindle DX with the font size jacked all of the way up?
I have an EyeClops, basically a toy microscope that hooks up to a TV. This is cheap but would let you get as close as you want to anything. Amazon Link
It might be worthwhile to post this over at makezine.com. Nothing those crazy makers love more than a challenge. Good luck! Maybe some enterprising person can get something mass produced via kickstarter.com
iPhone, iPod Touches, and iPads are pretty good for people with disabilities.
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
Why not euthanize the "unemployed young person"?
You need to check out IRTI.net
http://lighthouse-sf.org/
Surely his doctors have mentioned these people?
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
This isn't reading, but for entertainment he should look at old time radio. Old Time Radio
Thousands of marvellous radio plays as mp3's, no reading required.
Just the thing for long trips in a car or commuting, too.
Westerns, detective stories, comedies, it's all there. And it's free and legal, too.
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
The big crazy right now in classrooms is document cameras (glorified webcams on stands with lights) you can get a basic model that should work just fine for about $300-$400, avermedia makes a pretty good one. Then just hook it to a TV, large screen or projector with a VGA cable. Plus when that time comes and you need to figure out what to do with the device when the time comes, just donate it to your local school (tax write off).
How about one of the new LED projectors and a pdf ebook? Granted you have to read off the wall, but it may be a relatively cheap workaround. Books on tape are an old standby also, I use them while commuting.
Why not get an OCR picture to text application for the ipad? You can then probably use an application to read that text as well, or zoom as far in as you need.
When my dad got macular degeneration, I got hold of an old laptop, put linux on it, and set it up so that it loaded fbreader on booting. My dad had never used a computer in his life, couldn't see the keyboard, and wasn't interested in learning how to use a PC. But I put sticky red rubber buttons on the keys he needed to navigate fbreader. After some experimentation, we figured out big white writing on a black background worked well, put a load of ebooks on it, and away he went. He found it very easy to use, and never needed to worry about how the computer worked. He used it a lot, and although he started listening to audio books too, he much preferred being able to read on screen. My dad was into science fiction, and we took up Baen Books' offer of free ebooks for the disabled (see http://www.webscription.net/t-disabled.aspx) so he didn't even have to pay for books.
A decent android with the largest screen and add FBREADER (FONTS, colors everything adjustable) and read EBOOKS :)
I didnt want any other ebook reader because I couldnt adust the settings to please me
I have FBREADER on my PC and ANDROID phone & tablet for reading (bought the tablet purely for fbreader
I also use CALIBRE to convert anything that FBREADER cant handle
What about an iPad or android tablet? They tend to have a "downward" facing camera and already have a screen. You could use it as a portable magnifier, for general use, as well as a reader. They have the capacity to do OCR on a book, and could present the text one word, or even one letter, at a time. I'm sure a book holder with a frame to support the tablet wouldn't be too hard to rig up - you could probably make it fold up and portable (fit inside a briefcase, say) with a little bit of thought.
You're one of the foul-smelling "Occupy" retards, aren't you?
So, I take it some kind of stereotyping and group affiliation is your substitute for explaining why you disagree?
God damn, do you have any idea how pathetic that is? Try forming your own position based on truth as you perceive it. See if that doesn't work out better for you than assuming I am a member of some group I never even mentioned.
Sounds like when I asked "or do you just emotionally knee-jerk like most idiots do" your honest answer would be "fuck yeah I do, that's SO MUCH EASIER than actually putting forth my own ideas and explaining why I think they're better!" You are everything that is wrong with public discourse. Congratulations, you fucking lemming.
Now go wet your finger so you can hold it up and determine which way the wind blows, you soul-less ball-less piece of follower shit.
The long-term result of macular degeneration is that he will lose the ability to focus on anything in the center of his vision, and will eventually hit the point where he only has (blurry) peripheral vision. When this occurs, he will not be able to read at all. Any items which magnify text will be a very temporary solution for him.
Focus on finding audio solutions that work, spend time researching them and then becoming familiar with using them, because anything you create now that magnifies text will be very quickly obsolete.
Thank you for proving my theory.
Thank you for proving my theory.
Only if you live in some insane place that exists only in your head where no confirmation with reality is necessary. Then your "theory" is great.
Truth is, I have never taken part in any Occupier movement nor do I plan to. That would totally falsify your little "theory" though somehow you will assume that confirms it, by some twisted emotional rhetoric that you, in your advanced state of delusion, think is equivalent to logic. So be it, you sick bastard.
You still haven't explained why you think I am wrong and why you think your own way of seeing things is better and more correct. You cannot or else you would. You fucking coward. Try actually manning up and subjecting your pet "theories" to a test of truth sometime. Try actually finding a flaw in the other guy's reasoning before you declare him wrong and yourself some kind of victor.
You can't do it. You don't have the skill. You don't have anything but a bunch of branding, pigeonholing, and name-calling on your side. How pathetic. You're a tragic insecure little man with nothing to back up what you so passionately think is right. When you grow a nutsac and manage to put some testicles in it and feel ready to take me on on reasoned debate, you just let me know.
Check this out:
I just checked the facts now, and Ray Kurzweil (AI + future-tech guru/genius/entrepreneur/benefactor/cyborg ) has a whole company specializing in assistive reading technologies.
K–NFB Reading Technology
http://www.knfbreader.com/
The original OCR reader for blind people he developed is presented here:
http://www.knfbreader.com/products-classic.php
This product is no longer in development, because they have moved to using cell-phones (you just gotta love this cell-phone age we're in). BTW, don't waste your time looking at products made by people without the expertise in this field of AI and assistive technology. You need a real solution for a real problem...
For reading and using the computer, advanced software exists (Windows platform - don't let anyone make you waste your time with open source, it's not for grandpa - yet). If he can identify elements in the screen and is able to locate where text is, he can just use something like TextAloud.
As macular degeneration progresses, though, he will want to move into software specifically tailored for the blind. In fact, I would suggest getting acquainted with the following software before total blindness. JAWS is the major-league player in this category.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp
I wish all the best for your girlfriend's grandfather. Tell him he's not the only in that situation and that there are solutions out there.
I hope this helps.
May you score many Internet Points points with your future father-in-law, too ;-)
Main difference between the BSD license and the GPL license: one is from California and the other is from Massachusetts
Could get him a Kindle with audiobooks. Also, call Amazon and talk to a rep and ask to speak with someone there with experience in the blind using Kindles. It may be a small number of users, but they really need to support it, even if they can't read text books without getting into fights with the audiobook people. Or better yet, just an ipod shuffle. Good luck. The world can be quite an awful place for the blind, and they get shafted while other minority groups (of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or lack of, drug legalization advocates) get all of the attention these days. It is sick, imo, that they get treated so poorly.
I used to work in the same building as these people. I even worked with a couple of them on different products.
While I have not used/seen their products, they may offer something useful.
http://www.gh-accessibility.com/
I used to work for these folks. Their products are quality, have a good warranty, and they have a 30 day return policy they honor well. Order one directly from them, if the product doesn't work well for your needs, just send it back (Shipping costs to return the item are on you.)
Bierley Inc
The device is $198 and comes in two mag levels and there is a color model. Check out their website. I will also email you too.
Their basic, entry level product:
Bierley Monomouse
You forgot to put a </nerdrage> at the end of your post. Always close your tags or it'll mess up Slashdot's formatting.
Check with the "Center For Independent Living". Look them up on google. They know what works and can provide advice and assistance.
The smartphone of his choice (iOS pretty definitely, Android probably) should apps available that will let him image some text, OCR it, and then either zoom in on it or speak it to him.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
In our litigious society he will probably end up getting sued for patent infringement.
I know some who basically did this with a cheap digital camera that had a Camera to TV set cable. I think, from memory it was a Kodak Camera. Put the camera on a stand with a lot of lighting, and enough shielding that the lights used to illuminate the book are not going to interfere with someone with poor eyesight being able to see the TV screen clearly.
That said, I also know several people with strong levels of visual impairment who have found the various iDevices to be game changers for them in the past few years, particularly when on the go. In this case, if electronic texts of favorite works are available I can think of ways of scripted conversions to movie files to play via an Apple TV. Basically compiling a movie file of text (sized and fonted for easy reading) playing at an appropriate reading speed.
My father (a Vietnam vet) has had Macular Degeneration for years and gets tons of freebies from the VA. They can get him pretty much whatever is useful to him at no cost. He's received one of those overhead cameras, and numerous lighted magnifying lenses, even replacing them when they wear out. He's tried other things that he didn't get because he didn't find them useful.
Also, check out the Library for the Blind. Your local public library should be able to get the contact for your local branch (there are regional centers throughout the US). They send out a special player that plays digital cartridges-like things that contain entire books and magazines. It is much easier for the blind to operate compared to dealing with the accessibility features on commercial products. And yes, I've tried out the Kindle, iPad, Playaway,and various other computer based things, all of whose accessibility controls are more hassle than their worth when compared to things created for that purpose.The Library for the Blind can also provide a special radio that has particular band that picks up people reading current magazines and the days newspapers as designated times.
Some people who have been blind all their lives find using the accessibility features on commercial devices the way to go, but I've found that when dealing with the elderly, they need something much simpler because there is already such a big learning curve to learn any new technology.
The general problem here is that parts of the visual field are missing in the affected person. There is no direct analogue to other experience, but it is somewhat like you have a lace curtain in front of your eyes, so that some areas of your vision are OK, some are poor quality, and some are missing.
Ideally, what you want is something that warps the visual field around these areas, while preserving the missing content. To a person with negligible degeneration, the displayed image would look horribly distorted; however if it contains all the information, the mind of the affected person will learn to re-integrate it into a sense of normalcy (or so the theory goes).
The second bit of technology is determining the geometry of the lace curtain. The geometry of this is, necessarily, tied to the distance they are viewing from - be it disco-bondage-headgear, lcd screens or projections.
So, yes, the commercial offerings may be little more than a camera, a screen and some software; but that description covers everything from ipods to medical imaging equipment. There is some straining in the quality and application.
No offense intended, but why don't you get your gf's grandpa the best of what is available in your budget, then take a look at making a better one. It would be quite sad if you came up with a reasonable replacement two days after he died.
"Time to marry her and start fucking her in the ass."
You are clearly inexperienced if you think the first enhances opportunities for the second.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Open source screen reader http://live.gnome.org/Orca This package can be used to operate a computer for people who are totally blind, read content etc etc.
You already mentioned Mac OS X for screen magnification, but maybe he can learn to use VoiceOver, which is also built in.
http://bookshare.org
The "lace curtain" analogy is that the lace curtain is glued to your eyes - shifting your eyes does not affect the relative positioning of the curtain. To affect it you have to shift your head.
That is the purpose in distorting the visual field to map around these 'holes' - so your eyes can pick up everything in front of them.
I know you said audio books were not your preferred solution but you should checkout the talking book program from the National Library Service, http://www.loc.gov/nls. The materials and equipment are provided free of charge to US residents and citizens living abroad. Another good source of information is the daisy consortium, http://www.daisy.org./ Daisy has developed standards and tools for accessibility. There are commercial products as well Humanware is probably the best known manufacturer but as I'm sure you are finding out these solutions can be quite expensive. A less expensive Android device could be another alternative as there are apps now being developed for assitive reading. Although, honestly iOS curently does a much better job of being accessible. I have heard the next version of Android will offer accessibilty improvements but that is probably 6-12 months away.
The people funding the Occupy and Tea party movements really don't want to talk about cuts to the high quality US medical care.
UK style age based medical care withdrawal is really harmful to a lot of peoples interests in the US.
Think of the age care specialists, the nursing homes, all the workers, the hospitals warehousing wings.
A lot of funding flows in to keep "one" person alive and local communities get to enjoy the trickle down funding.
All that quality infrastructure that could end up like parts of Detroit if easy 'flip the switch' laws are passed.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Here's a magazine about assistive devices for the visually impaired that's having a special on-line Q&A event this very week:
http://www.familyconnect.org/calendar.asp?EventID=2955
Ask the AccessWorld Experts! Special Online Event November 14-18
Dates: 11/14/2011 - 11/18/2011
AccessWorld iconFamilyConnect and AccessWorld Magazine are excited to announce a special opportunity for families to interact directly with some of the foremost authorities on accessible technology—from cell phones to ebooks, screen readers, classroom adaptations, and more.
Simply visit FamilyConnect's Ask the Experts blog anytime from November 14-18 (Monday-Friday) and leave your questions or concerns in the comments. Our team will be on hand to respond to your inquiries.
AccessWorld's accessibility experts include:
Lee Huffman
Tara Annis
Brad Hodges
Janet Ingber
Deborah Kendrick
J.J. Meddaugh
Ike Presley
John Rempel
This one-of-a-kind opportunity allows families to have their questions and concerns about assistive technology addressed by leading experts. Join us November 14-18 for this exciting online event!
Contact: Lee Huffman
E-Mail: accessworld@afb.net
URL: http://www.familyconnect.org/experts
And here's AccessWorld:
AccessWorld
Technology and People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
I knew some people at the American Foundation for the Blind. At that time, they had a research department of a couple of engineers creating assistive devices. You might contact the AFB or other blindness organizations and find an engineer to talk to. You might well find somebody who will be enthusiastic about your project.
Rather than using an LCD, get one of those small projectors that is capable of projecting an image to cover the entire wall. Less scrolling will be needed, and you will also likely need less image enhancement.
If you work with him on this, and I mean spend a lot of hours experimenting, you will probably find that his brain has compensated by erasing an irregular shaped patch from its visual field because it knows that the info in that patch is either missing or wrong. The result is that his brain thinks that the image just left of the patch is right beside (butted up against) the image on the right of the patch. You could make software which distorts the image so that there is no information in the missing patch, and after a while, his brain will learn to correct the distortion and form a reasonable facsimile of the image. You might need to have eye-tracking software to do this right.
This would also be useful to those people with high blood pressure who have a burst artery in the retina which causes part of the visual field to distort or disappear.
Try using grids of parallel lines, (horizontal or vertical) along with a few carefully postioned movable bright spots to map the missing patch and the distorted patch.
The Lighthouse has a great description of the AT otions available:
http://www.lighthouse.org/services-and-assistance/computers-and-technology/help/magnification/
Also, it's helpful to know that legislation world wide is mandating government sites ( and pressuring private businesses) to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/notice.htm
One of the most revolutionary developments for visually impaired individuals has been ios devices. As compared to Android the user interface is standardized and has an accessible feature on all devices that has been very well received. Best development option will likely be App development of unmet needs with ios. (There are lots of unmet needs btw in this community)
The Veterans Administration has incredible low vision resources. Better than anything anywhere.
It is very rare to lose all vision with AMD.
I recommend that you look into http://bookshare.org, the largest library of accessible ebooks for people with print disabilities. Non-students pay a membership fee and have access to books for free due to an exemption in copyright law for people with print disabilities. The books can be read with various assistive technologies, but I recommend using Read2Go on iOS devices. We are also developing an open source Android ebook reader that uses TTS at http://github.com/benetech/fbreaderj.
My father in law has fairly advanced macular degeneration, along with color blindness. But I think geriatric depression is giving him the most pain.
His kids have tried giving him things like the cam based magnifiers. They refuse to take the time to sit down with him to make sure he can operate them and that the colours and contrast work best with his color blindness and his remaining visual field. I try, but there are limits to how much I can visit and how much I can accomplish.
He could still be reading if he'd started learning braille or if he tried something like the Brainport "lollipop" (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182815.php). He's too damn proud to make the best of what he has left. And that leads to depression, and that's where a shrink comes in to play.
You're one of the foul-smelling "Occupy" retards, aren't you?
So, I take it some kind of stereotyping and group affiliation is your substitute for explaining why you disagree?
God damn, do you have any idea how pathetic that is? Try forming your own position based on truth as you perceive it. See if that doesn't work out better for you than assuming I am a member of some group I never even mentioned.
Sounds like when I asked "or do you just emotionally knee-jerk like most idiots do" your honest answer would be "fuck yeah I do, that's SO MUCH EASIER than actually putting forth my own ideas and explaining why I think they're better!" You are everything that is wrong with public discourse. Congratulations, you fucking lemming.
Now go wet your finger so you can hold it up and determine which way the wind blows, you soul-less ball-less piece of follower shit.
Yeah, sounds like the OP pegged you.
Or you could you, just a thought I'm throwing it out there, actually give them assistance BEFORE they get sick as dogs then they wouldn't cost a tenth as much as they do? how about that?
My mom worked her whole life as an RN and I don't know how many times she told me about some poor person getting a total valve replacement because they had a bad tooth and the infection had spread to the heart and destroyed the valves. Now which do YOU think is less expensive, paying to pull a tooth or a quadruple valve replacement? Or times when they wouldn't give a dime to have a relative take care of someone but WOULD pay to have home health drive out there, even if the relative was completely qualified to do the job at hand. Again which do YOU think was the least expensive option?
The problem with health care in the USA is NOT the services but the "penny saved pound foolish" attitude that infects it like a cancer. Little things that would cost a pittance are disallowed while insanely expensive things are routine. Its not for the doctors, frankly it frustrates the hell out of them, its just bean counter Dilbert PHB bullshit.
As for TFA, why not a nice fat tablet or eReader? Why do you want to go through all the work when the new eReaders have frankly insane font sizes on them and one can get a nice 10 or 12 inch droid based for pretty cheap. nearly all have an easy to use magnify option, it'll let him get all the news he wants from the web, not to mention huge amounts of books from Amazon or even free from Gutenberg project.
When it doubt, go for the simplest route. It would be easy for him to handle, give him the WWW at his fingertips, you can load it with family photos, books, even movies, seems like a perfect solution to the problem to me.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I've had some success with scanning and OCR software on my iPhone... http://www.creaceed.com/prizmo/iphone/
Have you looked at the Intel Reader? It's a fairly affordable OCR/TTS handheld device with a custom camera and strobe, targeted to blind, low-vision, and dyslexic users. It also comes with a transforming briefcase that turns into a docking station for capturing entire books. I had the privelidge of working on the team that developed it and would be happy to answer any questions about it offline.
Hi. I thimk that some others here are correct. As his condition will eventually get worse to the point of not being able to read, now is the time to explore audio solutions. A legally blind friend of mine uses a computer and screen reader software. He is able to do pretty much anything he wants or needs to do.
Another solution might be a Kindle or similar ereader that has text to speech capabilities, and can speak menu prompts as well. Many will play audio books as well. I have listened to several Libervox audio books, and the quality of the reading so far has been good.
Learning to use the above solutions now while he has some vision left will be a big advantage later on. Also, with a computer, colors and font sizes can be adjusted. Ad a camera and TV card, and you have a system very similar to what you are wanting to build.
I have some vision problems myself. I find that for me white text on a black screen is much easier to read than black text on a white screen. I do have a Kindle Keyboard ordered, partly because of the text to speech, and spoken menu options.
Howdy, my name is Marion Stevens, and I'm a university AT specialist, so hopefully I can help you out. I can't tell you how to build what you want, but I'll try to direct you to some services he should look into.
First, if he wants books in alternative format, I'd suggest setting him up with a Bookshare membership. It's free, and they have a good number of titles in DAISY format. DAISY is a specialized format for both print and audio that allows for very easy navigation to specific parts of the book. You need either a software or hardware player, but you can get a basic piece of software with your membership, and more feature-rich products can be purchased, including units that will convert the text into audio. Check out www.bookshare.org
Learning Ally is another service worth checking out. Like Bookshare, it encodes its books in DAISY format (well, most of them), but it uses human-read audio, which he may like better. However, unlike Bookshare, Learning Ally isn't free--memberships are $99/year. www.learningally.org
Now, on to hardware. It sounds like what you saw was a CCTV, which contains a platform on which you place text, a camera to grab images, and a monitor on which to display them. Yes, they are expensive, but you have to understand that they are very specialized devices, and you can do some neat processing tricks on the video, such as changing colors, contrast, and doing things like bracketing a single line of text, which helps people with tracking disorders focus on what they need to read. Granted, a computer can do this, but a CCTV is a single-use device, so it is extremely stable, doesn't have a long boot-up time, and is dead simple to use. That's what you're paying for.
However, I really don't think that's what he needs, at least not in the long term. Macular degeneration is usually degenerative, and, if his is, that CCTV is going to become more and more difficult for him to use. Instead, you might want to look at something like the Intel Reader. Basically, it's a little unit about three times the size of an iPhone that can quickly capture text and convert it to any of several formats, including speech. There is also a capture station you can get as an accessory that allows you to mount it at the optimal height so you can easily place printed material under it and quickly capture page after page. Captured text can be transferred to a computer for further processing, if yoou need to do that.
I know you're wanting to build him something, and I respect that, but remember that this is something he has to use on a daily basis, so it has to work and work well. If it's complicated and/or flaky, he's going to get frustrated and not use it, and then your money will have been wasted.
Obviously, I don't know where you're located, but I'm guessing you're not too far from a college or university. Give their disability services office a call and see if you can talk with their Assistive Technology Specialist. Even though your dad isn't a student, most any of them will be happy to talk with you. And if you want, you can call me at The University of Alabama Office of Disability Services. Just don't do it this week, as I'm at a conference on...you guessed it...assistive technology.
I mean, did you take even a moment to think about the differences in situations there? Or did you just emotionally knee-jerk like most idiots do?
In fairness, he replied in the spirit of "fuck that sort of person, give their resources to this other sort of people" found in your original post.
I'm all for "when I start to get too senile to be useful, please let me perform an orderly shutdown" but that is my choice and is not something I would want enforced on others (or myself for that matter). What you are suggesting (offing people based upon their perceived utility to society and/or resource draining potential) is a particularly unpleasant slippery slope.
In some places for every young person would has a full life ahead of him/her being useful to society there is one who take whatever they can and give sweet FA, using up a damn sight more resource from the social security net than that 88 year old ever has and ever will. I'm assuming you don't want to go there.
This is the same problem I've just been through with my grandmother, who originally had dry MD in one eye but now has wet in both. She's been having semi-regular injections in order to slow it down, but is now at the point where she's got some blurry peripheral vision left only. A few months ago I showed her text on a laptop screen to try and gauge whether it would be of use to her as a reading device, sadly not - I suspect it would have been useful a year ago but it is well beyond that now.
Each person varies in their response to treatment of course, but in this case visual aids are no longer enough. Ultimately we've come to realize that an audio book solution is the only way to go now, though she's not a huge fan as she admits that they have a tendency to put her to sleep!
For ready-to-go books get a membership at:
http://www.Bookshare.org/
For ready-to-go software get:
http://F123.org/en
F123 also has a paid version with high quality speech for when he needs
that in the future.
They've had them since the 1920's, in alliance with organizations for the blind, publishers, the Library of Congress, and various other groups. Their format is different than audiobooks not for the blind, and they send you free equipment to use them; but they're also sworn never to distribute these audiobooks for money. It's a whole other world of audiobooks. You send them back and forth by mail, like Netflix. Likewise, there's radio reading of newspapers and magazines, done free for the blind.
But yes, I understand not wanting to be stuck with other people's interpretations of a text, for as long as possible, or with wanting access to texts still unavailable, or just with wanting it now and not a week from now.
Help him find a way to learn Braille.
Off-topic I know, but some forms of macular degeneration respond really well to eating lots of spinach and similar leafy vegetables: http://www.macular.org/nutrition/index.html
This may or may not work, but eating spinach isn't a hard thing to try and has little if any downside.
Slashdot just ate my original comment...
Worth starting with a Linux distro that's aimed at visually impaired users, such as Vinux: http://wiki.vinuxproject.org/index.php?title=Main_Page - Ubuntu 10.04 based, and includes full screen magnification that might 'just work' if you point a webcam at a paper book. Also this would support Chrome which is a good way to use the Amazon Cloud Reader, for Kindle ebooks (easier than using a Windows VM).
The Vinux community can also probably help in other ways with your specific requirements.
I've done some work with augmented vision for low vision individuals and published work on enhancing reading text and television for the visually impaired.
I found that edge text enhancement provided a large, although subjective, increase in a patients ability to correctly identify words, many other augmented vision aids use magnification and contrast modification as standard.
Check out ways of applying them to your web camera, I work with head mounted display implementation and embedded devices that limit implementation and generally require complex realisations, while in a computers environment they can be implemented fairly straight forward with environments such as MATALB. I'm sure their are other implementations available to yourself depending on your programming level (OpenCV).
Just my food for thought.
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped provides recorded books and magazines at no cost through local libraries, see http://www.loc.gov/nls for the location of your nearest library. They are also a good source of information about aids like screen readers and screen magnifier software, as is your local affiliated library.
The National Federation of the Blind http://www.nfb.org/ is also a good source of information about helpful technology.
Hi,
My dad had the same issues due to diabetes and old age. I got him a document camera. My sister and I sold them for a while and I think that I have some in storage. A couple of hundred bucks is what you should limit your payment on a used one from ebay.
The nice thing about a document camera is that it magnifies very nicely, can hook up to just about any tv, many have hookups for computers, many can reverse the image (positive to negative) which helps for some kinds of reading, and they are unsurpassed for taking out a splinter or repairing small items. I used my dad's many times for just such things.
I agree with the poster upthread that JAWS is powerful (and Kurzweil has been a standard for years), but in my experience it is also pretty complicated for a novice user.
Have a look at what the Trace R&D Center has to offer on the topic. In addition to developing accessibility standards and technology, they are an amazing resource for information on AT in general. They used to have a very good "information and referral" service, though I'm not sure if that's part of their mission now.
A couple of other good resource are ABLEDATA assistive tech database, and assistivetech.net.
If you live in the upper midwest and feel like shelling out a few bucks to have your mind blown by current trends in AT, make a point of attending the Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis next October.
Probably this is more information than you were looking for, but it does make for interesting reading!
hth
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You can use the Calibre application (free from http://calibre-ebook.com/) to load any external documents or ebooks onto the Kindle. You don't have to buy DRM'ed books if you don't want to, as there are lots of non-DRM sources of information out there that are easily converted. My main reason for getting the kindle was because I had exhausted all the technical audiobooks ($$) worth buying and with Calibre I can load almost anything onto the kindle including scientific reports, technical journals, which you can not get in ANY audio book format at any price. What it would not do well for him is poetry (its temporally challenged), mathematics (can't read the symbols), and programming languages (they are not dictionary words) since the text to speech, although its the best I have ever heard, isn't quite perfect.
As others have suggested above that you could simply increase the font size to the maximum until that becomes impractical, and then use the text to speech feature when his eyes get tired, or until he can no longer has good enough vision. It would be the best plan to get him started and familiar with the device before he looses all his vision so that he knows how to navigate the menus. I wish him the best of luck. My Dad is having similar problems but vision is not his main concern at the moment.
88 years old, going blind, no doubt collecting Social Security that some unemployed young person could also use... have you ever thought of euthanizing him?
Dunno, but I bet your parents hought about euthanizing you, you psycopathic shit bubble.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The problem with most of the do-it-yourself solutions is that they use a hand-held camera (phone or whatever). The people who need the device (the elderly, in particular), need a stable platform to both support the book and allow scanning along the text. Those mechanical bits add a lot to the cost of any of these devices.
I agree that audio is probably a better long-term solution for someone with MD. But to the extent that magnification and enhanced contrast help, the devices you've found can be useful as well. To help you understand the sticker shock of $3000 for a combination of what is basically off-the-shelf consumer technology, you have to understand that these devices are developed and sold as medical devices, and this is how our medical economy operates.
Detailing how simple consumer technology can cost $3000 when packaged and sold as a medical device would require a Master's thesis on Economics. I'm sure it has something to do with the relatively high unit cost for research, development, marketing and support in such a small and specialized market. That, together with how medical reimbursement is handled in our country.
But at the end of the day, if a person is over 65 or disabled (your grandfather is both), that person qualifies for Medicare and possibly for Medicaid, which will often cover all or part of the the cost of a medical device like this. Rather than spending hours figuring out how to patch together a low-cost, half-assed replacement to these already-existing devices, your grandfather would be better served by you helping him go through the hoops needed to acquire a reliable device through some kind of medical insurance.
Start with a call to your local State services for the Blind (every state has one) and then go from there. Very few people buy these devices out-of-pocket; most people acquire them through their medical insurance. Your grandfather would be best served by doing the same.
My first gen iPad doesn't have a camera so I can't attest to resolution or field of view, but using my iPhone's camera it only needs to be about a foot from a letter size page to capture the page completely.
You could rig up a stand which held an iPad a reasonable distance from the reading material, maybe with a light for the source material, maybe with a periscope-like arrangement of mirrors.
Not sure if the pinch-to-zoom gesture would be a challenge, but hardware-wise a tablet with a decent camera seems like the easiest place to start.
Computers and internet connections are cheap, as are downloable books.
LCDs have followed a corollary to Moore's Law, and a 40in LCD can be had for $300 or less.
Indeed you can set one up to an extent. The products you are referring to are known in general as CCTV's in the assistive technology/low vision community even though they don't necessarily involve a television anymore. The one thing to keep in mind is that the purpose built and sold products such as the ones you linked to are built with specific features such as contrast enhancement, color adjustment, (and more I'm sure I don't know of), that are effective in helping people with various types of visual difficulties. For example, they can switch a book placed in front of their camera from black on white to display on a screen as white on black, or change it to red on black, etc. Perhaps your girlfriend's grandfather's doctors or specialists could say whether those types of things or other features that these types of purpose built devices have would help or would be able to extend his ability to read printed text. Many also come with a table that slides in the x and y directions to make it easy to move a book around. A large smooth table can work similarly, but it's not as convenient. The other thing to realize is that the reason those devices are so expensive in many cases is that they are built for one purpose and thus are able to qualify for health insurance coverage. That's an unfortunate feature of most health insurance, but they don't want to pay for general purpose devices like a computer, even if it could be used with built in screen reader software like on a Mac (VoiceOver), because that computer could also be used for general purposes. So the result is much more expensive single purpose devices. Go figure. But as explained above, in some cases, they come with features that would either be difficult to duplicate in a DIY solution, or would take quite a bit of research to find out what features are best for a given condition. Maybe your girlfriend's grandfather would qualify for insurance coverage anyway. In this case, given that his condition is degenerative, perhaps, a DIY solution is better if it can work, if it would be cheaper.
Another option is to consider screen reader software such as VoiceOver that comes with Macs or JAWS or WindowEyes that can be purchased for windows. JAWS and WindowEyes are more serious, full screen reader solutions. A screen reader is certainly not an easy learning curve. They replace the standard computer navigation with an entirely new keyboard (and mouse work arounds) and audio based one.
Another option is custom Audio book creation. You can build a DIY book scanner diybookscanner.org/ and ocr any book or page, then use text to speech software to create an audio book. With custom voices they can sound pretty good, though it takes a lot of work to clean up the text input to get nice clean output.
People have already linked the KNFB reader software, which is worth looking into. It's pretty slick, I've seen it in action. It's pretty well optimized and runs on a Nokia cell phone.
My Grandfather has a year up on yours but.....
I thought exactly the same thing as you did. That one could just strap together a web came or what have you, and LCD monitor etc. And you sure can. But here where the difference lies. For $3000 you get a drastically simplified that an 80+ year old can handle. It has buttons that they can actually feel, remember, they can't see the little camera buttons. They get some one to call when they have problems, that isn't you. And chances are given his age, he may have barley been in the tail end of WWII, and the VA will pay for these things, and show them how to use them. Over the years I have gone through this same thing, and just have your family get together the money and get something nice. You can probably save a little on the LCD.
I have to make a big subject change because I just heard this Johns Hopkins podcast about Lucentis being used to stop and somewhat regress MD. This may be equally useful knowledge to having aids: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/audio/podcasts/ You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for Lucentis to find it. There's a power point presentation on the subject, too.