[Diabetes-talk] TALKING insulin pumps

Thu Apr 9 02:38:51 UTC 2009

Mike is right, plus from what little I know about designing 
electronics etc., the chips are cheap, but it is more expensive to 
add buttons and/or switches to a device.  Plus, with Insulin Pumps, 
they probably are FDA approved, and doing programming and user 
interface for something that can dramatically influence your health 
probably has all kinds of requirements etc.  So, the speech 
technology itself is trivial as compared to the rest of it.

Dave

At 10:51 PM 4/7/2009, you wrote:
>Dave:
>
>In saying that text-to-speech is so cheap, you're ignoring the
>programming cost to implement it. This includes not only the direct
>programming cost but the cost of changing interface designs to work with
>speech. Most people don't realize it but an awful lot of thought has
>gone into screen-readers -- all of them -- to ensure that the
>information on the screen is presented in a way that is intelligible
>with speech.
>
>One of the problems with many pumps is that a great deal of the
>information on many of them is presented graphically. I'm not saying it
>has to be this way but we're talking about what is, not what ought to
>be. And companies are loath to rework their entire designs to
>accommodate a small minority -- that is, us.
>
>I'm not saying it can't be done nor am I saying that it wouldn't be the
>right thing to do morally. What I am saying is that the marketplace
>truly drives this stuff -- that and the fact that very often, we, the
>blind, don't know exactly what information we want and how it should be
>presented.
>
>So while I share your indignation, it ain't as simple as one might
>reckon!
>
>Er, um, injections are a lot simpler!
>
>Mike Freeman
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Anspach" <danspach at tampabay.rr.com>
>To: "'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 7:30 PM
>Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] TALKING insulin pumps
>
>
>Hello Di,
>When you say the Animas  pump has more audible features, what exactly do
>you
>mean? Do you happen to have their web site address handy?
>
>I have been using a Medtronic/Minimed pump for nearly 5 years. Like you,
>they don't seem to want to hear anything I have to say about building
>accessibility into their pumps. This all just seems to fall on deaf ears
>each time I talk about it with anyone from their company. They just say
>something like "Oh, we are not looking at adding accessibility, but just
>wait until you see the other new features we are adding to our pumps."
>While
>this might be great to someone who is sighted, it does absolutely
>nothing
>for those of us who are blind and trying to take advantage of the
>greater
>control using a pump supposedly affords a diabetic. I am ready to either
>go
>back to injections, or switch to another manufacturer who might have a
>more
>accessible pump.
>
>I know one thing for sure, when the new DDI pump hits the market with
>it's
>synthesizer built-in, even if it is just a small start, I will jump ship
>as
>fast as I can. I'm sick and tired of dealing with a company who simply
>will
>not take a look at adding synthesizes, text-to-speech technology into
>their
>pumps. There is absolutely no reason why they cannot add this
>functionality
>while they are redesigning their pumps to accommodate the other new
>features
>they are so excited about. I know that the money really speaks to what
>features get added, but text-to-speech is so cheap to implement these
>days,
>that they really don't have a leg to stand on.
>
>Ok, I promise that I'm done venting for a while, now where's that tall,
>cold
>can of Coors Light with the vented mouth?? <lol>
>
>Dave
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
>[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Diane
>Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 8:06 PM
>To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
>Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] TALKING insulin pumps
>
>DDI has been the leader so far in even trying to get a pump for us blind
>folk.
>MedTronic refuses to listen to me anymore, so I told them I am taking my
>business elsewhere, and I am getting an Animas shortly (the next best
>thing
>until DDi comes through victoriously as it has a large screen and more
>audio
>options!)
>Don't worry y'all...the entire world will know!!!
>Di
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Ed Bryant" <ebryant at socket.net>
>To: "'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 1:23 PM
>Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] insulin pumps
>
>
> > Hi Debbie,
> >
> > I know an insulin pump is being worked on which will have a voice
> > synthesizer. I cannot give details right now and don't know how long
> > the insulin pump with the voice will take but this list will be kept
>posted.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Ed Bryant
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
> > [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of catdancing
> > Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 9:29 AM
> > To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
> > Subject: [Diabetes-talk] insulin pumps
> >
> > has anyone on here ever heard of an insulin pump for the visually
> > impaired?
> > if so could u let me know what it is and where to find it.
> > a friend of mine also a type 1 said a place called ammis. com made
> > them but i couldn't find any such item on their web page.
> > has anyone any ideas?
> > Debbie
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> > ket.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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