[Ct-nfb] App helps blind to send text messages

[Anne West]

I received this from a ham radio operator.

Anne

App helps blind to send text messages
Georgia Tech's Braille texting app
The system will be open source and free to download on iOS and Android
New technology to help blind people text using touchscreen mobile devices
has been
developed.
Researchers at Georgia Tech produced the app - to be made available on Apple
and
Android devices - based on the Braille writing system.
It is claimed typing with the app is up to six times faster than existing
methods
for texting without sight.
Access to technology for the visually-impaired is a growing issue due to the
proliferation
of touchscreens.
Experts say currently available tools, such as Apple's Voiceover technology,
are
functional but too slow to be used effectively.
Brailletouch, which the team hope to release in the next couple of weeks,
uses a
system that is controlled with six fingers and, crucially, does not
require any movement of the hands
.
"Users who know how to type Braille well never move their hands," explained
Mario
Romero, lead researcher on the project.
"When users hold the phone they hold the phone with the screen facing away
from them
in landscape mode.
"They wrap the index, middle and ring finger in each hand around the phone.
"It's not like the Qwerty keyboard where you move up and down. That's why
this thing
works - we can get away with only six keys."
Eyes-free kit
Brailletouch will be free and open-source, its makers say, and it is hoped
it could
even become an "eyes-free" solution for fully-sighted people who want to
text while
visually pre-occupied with something else.
"Learning to type Braille is learning to memorise where the the dots fall,"
Mr Romero
told the BBC.
"It took me and my colleagues a few hours to memorise things so we could
start typing
at around 10 words per minute. It's not something that takes years.
"We're hoping that, if not Braille, a similar system may solve the issue of
having
too many keys that are too small that force everybody to look at the screen
when
they're typing."
However, Mr Romero was quick to dampen any possible hopes that the software
could
be used to text while behind the wheel.
"They need to concentrate on what they're doing. This is not for texting and
driving,"
he said.
'Truly blind'
Mr Romero highlighted a growing anxiety shared among the blind community
that the
widespread adoption of touchscreens for many machines and devices is making
them
"truly blind".
"There is extreme concern about this new trend.
"A lot of equipment today - from copying machines to machines at the gym -
is all
coming with touch screens."
He added that while research into tactile screens - which give users
feedback by
moulding - is taking place, we are still some way from having touchscreens
which
adequately cater for the visually-impaired.
"Blind people say I 'see' things with my fingers," Mr Romero said.
"But on touchscreens they are truly blind."
*Many thanks to Mark T. for passing this intriguing article along. And in
case you're
wondering I do not own a cell phone with touch screen technology but I do a
little
texting ... not very accurately.*
App helps blind to send text messages
Georgia Tech's Braille texting app
The system will be open source and free to download on iOS and Android
New technology to help blind people text using touchscreen mobile devices
has been
developed.
Researchers at Georgia Tech produced the app - to be made available on Apple
and
Android devices - based on the Braille writing system.
It is claimed typing with the app is up to six times faster than existing
methods
for texting without sight.
Access to technology for the visually-impaired is a growing issue due to the
proliferation
of touchscreens.
Experts say currently available tools, such as Apple's Voiceover technology,
are
functional but too slow to be used effectively.
Brailletouch, which the team hope to release in the next couple of weeks,
uses a
system that is controlled with six fingers and, crucially, does not
require any movement of the hands
.
"Users who know how to type Braille well never move their hands," explained
Mario
Romero, lead researcher on the project.
"When users hold the phone they hold the phone with the screen facing away
from them
in landscape mode.
"They wrap the index, middle and ring finger in each hand around the phone.
"It's not like the Qwerty keyboard where you move up and down. That's why
this thing
works - we can get away with only six keys."
Eyes-free kit
Brailletouch will be free and open-source, its makers say, and it is hoped
it could
even become an "eyes-free" solution for fully-sighted people who want to
text while
visually pre-occupied with something else.
"Learning to type Braille is learning to memorise where the the dots fall,"
Mr Romero
told the BBC.
"It took me and my colleagues a few hours to memorise things so we could
start typing
at around 10 words per minute. It's not something that takes years.
"We're hoping that, if not Braille, a similar system may solve the issue of
having
too many keys that are too small that force everybody to look at the screen
when
they're typing."
However, Mr Romero was quick to dampen any possible hopes that the software
could
be used to text while behind the wheel.
"They need to concentrate on what they're doing. This is not for texting and
driving,"
he said.
'Truly blind'
Mr Romero highlighted a growing anxiety shared among the blind community
that the
widespread adoption of touchscreens for many machines and devices is making
them
"truly blind".
"There is extreme concern about this new trend.
"A lot of equipment today - from copying machines to machines at the gym -
is all
coming with touch screens."
He added that while research into tactile screens - which give users
feedback by
moulding - is taking place, we are still some way from having touchscreens
which
adequately cater for the visually-impaired.
"Blind people say I 'see' things with my fingers," Mr Romero said.
"But on touchscreens they are truly blind."