[Blindmath] Audio books

[Rasmussen, Lloyd]

I started college in electrical engineering 50 years ago last month. Only one braille technical textbook was available, which covered the first three courses in calculus. Everything else was either on tape (recorded for the Iowa Commission for the Blind's library) or I supervised the taping of other books by readers I hired. I use braille, and cannot use any sort of print. For calculations I had a braille circular slide rule, an abacus and a braille set of trig and log tables.
In working with taped textbooks, I mostly skimmed through the material and took braille notes in lectures, using a slate and stylus and my version of Grade 3 braille. Whenever I came across equations that looked to have some future value, I would get out my Perkins Brailler and write them out in the version of Nemeth Code which existed at the time. 
Studying audio materials certainly takes extra time. This needs to be a sustained effort; if you are going to be successful, you cannot cram for the finals. Writing out the equations you hear forces you to think through the expressions and ask yourself if you understand the grouping of parenthetical expressions, subscripts, superscripts, numerators, denominators, and the hierarchy of fractions. When you find some of these expressions ambiguously read, you have someone read along with you to help you sort things out. For equations in physics it was useful to think about the measurement units in which the variables were expressed, to see whether the result would be expressed in a sensible set of units or be a dimensionless number.
In working on the radio-frequency impedance of transmission lines, which involves multiplication and rotation of vectors that represent complex numbers, all students used a nomogram called a Smith chart. Calculators that could handle the math didn't exist, and the Smith chart was a nifty way to represent the phenomena. My reader for this material had no understanding of what she was doing, but she was able to follow my instructions with a high degree of accuracy. I got results comparable to those of sighted students taking the course, and she was an art major! 
I hope this makes a little sense. I know that things have changed drastically for college students in 50 years, not always for the better but in some cases very much better. You have probably heard all this before, but the keys are plenty of tools in your toolbox, flexibility and creativity in solving problems and overcoming obstacles, and a willingness to advocate for what you need in meeting your goals. And all of those things will be helpful after college.
Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542   202-707-0535
http://www.loc.gov/nls/
The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS.


-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anna via Blindmath
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 2:56 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org; blindmath at nfbnet.org; nfb-science at nfbnet.org
Cc: annajee82 at gmail.com
Subject: [Blindmath] Audio books

I have been trying to use an audio book for the first time.  It is for a statistics class I have to take. It was recommended to me to use an audio book read by a person, so I got one from Learning Ally.  In the last semester I was trying to use JAWS and some combination of my vision and listening to science and math on the computer.  It did not go well at all.  So I am trying the audio book but I am quickly realizing....This is going to take forever...
Using a reader and/or tutor seems the most efficient option.  I have some, although not very much experience with working with people like this. I find it difficult.  I guess I am just looking for support and other people's experience.  
Have you used audio books for math?  How did it go?
Have you used a reader?  How was that?
How much time did you have to spend just reading through the book with the reader?  How did you reference the book or related material when you are not with your reader? How did you study on your own time? 
Any relevant information i can get on this would be helpful.  Thank you and Happy New Years.

Anna E Givens