Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Nokia's New 'Vibe' Braille Helps the Blind Read Text Messages

by Amar Toor on September 18, 2009 at 10:19 AM


As part of an ongoing effort to refine and improve mobile communication options for the blind, Nokia Labs has introduced a new SMS application (video after the break) that allows blind users to receive Braille text messages via the company's touch phones. The program receives the tactile texts, and, with a series of coded vibrations, relays the message to the user.

To date, most blind-accessible phones have featured devices that process text messages and then read them aloud to the user, rather than using vibrations. There are several more new developments in mobile software oriented towards the visually impaired, too. An iPhone app currently in development at iVisit is reported to be able to recognize everyday objects with the phone's camera, and identify them aurally for blind users. (The iPhone features several apps for the hearing impaired as well, including soundAMP and iHearClear.) CodeFactory, too, offers a variety of mobile downloads and applications for the visually impaired, including software that magnifies a phone's screen for better visibility.


While purists may argue that Braille without the bumps can't, in good conscience, be called Braille, Nokia's newest device is definitely an important and positive step towards the realization of a newer, more direct mobile syntax for the blind, which we find extremely encouraging. [From: The Register and Engadget]

Tags: braille, health, mobileapps, nokia, top, visuallyimpaired

Comments

1

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular