{"id":1819,"date":"2014-04-12T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2014-04-23T01:08:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T01:08:46","slug":"fingerreader-helps-blind-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/fingerreader-helps-blind-read\/","title":{"rendered":"FingerReader Helps The Blind Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIT\u2019s FingerReader Helps The Blind Read With A Swipe Of A Digit<\/p>\n

At MIT\u2019s Media Labs, researchers Roy Shilkrot, Jochen Huber and others are working on the \u201cFingerReader,\u201d a ring-like device that straps itself around your finger and reads printed text out loud with a synthesized voice, thanks to a mounted camera and heavily modified open source software.<\/p>\n

\"MIT<\/a><\/p>\n

The FingerReader\u2019s voice is clipped and metallic \u2013 what one might liken to a Berlitz tape speaking through clenched teeth \u2013 but it is something the Finger Reader team is aware of and is working on, amongst many other things. The device itself is plasticine and upon first-hand inspection, weighs no more than a regular ring. To hear the words read aloud, simply point your finger at the text you wish to read. It\u2019s possible thanks to a small camera mounted on the ring.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t work with text as small as, say, on a medicine bottle or baseball box scores, but it can read 12-point printed text, the on-screen computer component shown in the video above highlighting each word to the sound of what Shilkrot described as \u201cbings and beeps.\u201d Stray too far from a line, and a dial tone-like noise increases. Remain on the line of text and you can hear it. And though \u2013 as a whole \u2013 the FingerReader sounds like a \u2018Reading Pen,\u2019 Huber and Shilkrot differentiate it from the Reading Pen, noting that it gives real time feedback, whereas the Reading Pen does not, and that their software can read a whole line of text, and not one word at a time, as is the case with a Reading Pen.<\/p>\n

\"MIT<\/a><\/p>\n

In an interview, Shilkrot, a Ph.D student, said he didn\u2019t envision the final version of the \u2018Finger Reader\u2019 to be only for people with sight difficulties. He said it was for people with \u201cdisability, ability, and superability,\u201d and suggested a scenario in which the Finger Reader translated text in another language. He said it was worth noting that the blind and visually impaired liked using devices that weren\u2019t built just for them. He also pointed towards a study conducted by the Royal National Institute of the Blind in Britain that noted in 2011 that \u201conly seven per cent of books are available in large print, unabridged audio and braille, including titles available in these formats as eBooks,\u201d noting that an easy-to-use device would open up a lot of heretofore unread texts.<\/p>\n

Though there is no immediate plan to take FingerReader to market, Shilkrot is \u201caware of the costs of devices these days. [Even so], we still can\u2019t say how much the FingerReader will cost as a consumer product. The technology is still evolving around miniaturization, stand-alone wireless operation, tethering to a PC or smartphone.\u201d<\/p>\n