[Nebraska-Senior-Blind] Link to YouTube Demonstration of the optophone - FW: Interesting history - FW: the Optophone

Thu Jan 9 03:28:13 UTC 2020

Interesting, but my goodness how much we have advanced since this.

Mike

On Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 5:20 PM Barbara Loos via Nebraska-Senior-Blind <
nebraska-senior-blind at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Thank you very much. I am more convinced than ever that that machine is a
> relative of the Stereotoner. I didn’t attempt to figure out what the span
> of the notes was with this machine. The Stereotoner had 10 notes, but when
> reading with it using three through seven or eight was ideal so that you
> would have tones for parts of letters that went above or below the line and
> also for dealing with not going altogether straight across the page.
>
> Barbara
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 7, 2020, at 12:29 PM, Robert Leslie Newman via
> Nebraska-Senior-Blind <nebraska-senior-blind at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> 
>
> Hi You All
>
>
>
> A tech specialist from the Nebraska Commission for the blind has found a
> video on YouTube for the optophone. Check it OUT!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Brandt, Jan [mailto:jan.brandt at nebraska.gov]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 7, 2020 10:45 AM
> *To:* Robert Newman <robertleslienewman at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* RE: Interesting history - FW: the Optophone
>
>
>
> Robert,
>
>
>
> It’s always interesting to know the history of the evolutions of things…
> how interesting!  I found a short YouTube video that gives an example of
> the optophone reading the sentence “Joe took father’s shoe bench out.”  I
> can’t imagine trying to read that way, holy cow!
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H41Y_VcgDCo
>
>
>
> Thanks for sending along the article.  Happy New Year!
>
>
>
> Jan
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Robert Leslie Newman <robertleslienewman at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 7, 2020 9:14 AM
> *To:* Brandt, Jan <jan.brandt at nebraska.gov>
> *Subject:* Interesting history - FW: the Optophone
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* The Blind History Lady [mailto:theblindhistorylady at gmail.com
> <theblindhistorylady at gmail.com>]
> *Sent:* Monday, December 2, 2019 7:45 AM
> *To:* robertleslienewman at gmail.com
> *Subject:* the Optophone
>
>
>
> The Optophone
>
> <image004.jpg>
>
> <image005.jpg>
>
>
>
> .
>
> Hello Blind History Lady Fans;
>
>
>
> The holidays are here. This is my favorite time of the year. Someone just
> told me this is the busiest time of the year, but I can tell you that the
> past several months have been extremely busy for The Blind History
> Lady! Since September, I have had the pleasure of addressing groups in
> Montana, New Jersey, Nebraska, Kansas and several groups in my home state
> of Colorado. Thank all of you for your interest and support during this
> past year.
>
>
>
> Here is my December offering.
>
>
>
> I often wonder who thought of the idea or where did the idea come from for
> devices for the blind such as the Optacon that first made its appearance in
> the 1970’s.  The Optacon for those born too late, was a device that
> consisted of a small, hand-held camera, when run across print documents,
> converted what it scanned to an electronic display connected to the camera
> that consisted of several rows of vibrating pins. The reader read the
> actual print and could identify charts, tables, layout, even reading their
> phone bills. The user placed their hand inside the device about the size of
> a digital talking book player of today.
>
>
>
> I dug around a bit and found an interesting story that pre-dates the
> Optacon. The first “scanner” for the blind was invented about 1912 in
> Brittan. The device was called the Optophone, Articles began appearing in
> American newspapers in the summer of 1912, offering the machine as a way
> for the blind to distinguish between light and dark; opened doors,
> different clothing and much more. It was later manufactured by Barr and
> Stroud as a reading machine beginning in 1918.
>
>
>
> The online dictionary defines an Optophone thus; “a device combining a
> selenium cell and telephone apparatus that converts light energy into sound
> energy, used to enable blind people to sense light through the hearing and
> thus read printed matter.”
>
>
>
> Eager blind men and women in Brittan worked countless hours with Barr and
> Stroud, becoming “proficient” readers to improve the device, many without
> compensation. Again without compensation these same blind people traveled
> far and wide to demonstrate the device for Barr and Stroud. Most only
> achieved a reading speed between 25 to 40 words a minute although a couple
> individuals did test at more than 60 words per minute.
>
>
>
> In 1922 the Optophone was brought to the U. S. It was demonstrated to many
> groups, schools for the Blind, government leaders and agencies for the
> blind. Only two schools purchased the Optophone.
>
>
>
> In 1922 Miss Margaret Hogan, a blind instructor at the New Jersey
> Commission for the Blind, read the New York Times to an audience with her
> Optophone. She was also employed by the makers of the Optophone to become
> proficient with the device and teach others in the United States.
>
>
>
> The cost of an Optophone was 35 pounds in England, about 1,600 pounds
> today, or about $2,029.00 today. For most schools for the blind and most
> blind individuals themselves, they could not afford the new reading
> technology, nor the extensive training that was needed to learn the
> different tones for each capitol letter, lower case letter and
> punctuation. In the Editor and Publisher for March 18, 1922, the cost was
> listed at $600.
>
>
>
> But the biggest obstacle for most individuals wanting to learn how to use
> the device was the ability to distinguish between the tones. Letters and
> punctuation could be made of more than one tone. Those with not a good ear
> for recognizing the differences could not learn to read with the
> device. Many blind individuals were given an opportunity to work with the
> Optophone, yet after a few days, it was clear to the instructors that the
> individual just could not pick up on the differences. Students used
> headphones with the device to enhance the sounds and block out unwanted
> noise. Yet, headphones did not make any difference for the majority who
> tried the new reading device.
>
>
>
> Mary Jameson, the most well-known user of the Optophone who lived in
> England could read about 40 words a minute and reached a recorded speed of
> 60 words per minute. She used the Optophone until her death in 1980.
>
>
>
> Ms Hogan was one of very few people in the United States who had access to
> and became somewhat proficient on the device. Although it was advertised
> widely for a few years, it never found financial backers in the U. S. The
> Optophone made it in the 1922 Encyclopedia Britanica, such were its hopes
> for making the printed world open to the blind.
>
>
>
> Vladimir Zworykin, a Russian-American inventor examined first-hand the
> pilot optophones of E.E. Fournier d’Albe in London. He was encouraged by
> the device. He began to  experiment himself decades later at the Radio
> Corporation of America (RCA). After building a new version of the
> Optophone, Zworykin and others at RCA built a reading machine (1946-47)
> capable of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – the first of its kind.
>
>
>
> Others in the U. S. picked up on the idea and tried to manufacture a
> similar machine. In 1971 in Houston Texas at the National Federation of the
> Blind convention, Harvey Lauer demonstrated a similar device in the general
> session that read the printed word with tones. Harvey worked for the Vets
> administration at Hines Hospital in Chicago. He had mastered the techniques
> of listening to the tones and was able to read well enough to identify
> printed information.
>
>
>
> At the same convention, Tim Cranmer, blind inventor from Louisville
> Kentucky, demonstrated a calculator using tones to identify the numbers and
> functions.
>
>
>
> When the Optacon came on the market, it utilized the same principles, but
> converted the impulses into a tactile format. Feeling the pins meant that
> more individuals were able to learn effectively the new reading
> device.  Users also had to learn to read print. Learning print took up the
> bulk of the teaching time. Reading by touch seemed far easier than to read
> via ear with “musical” tones.
>
>
>
> Some reported Optacon readers reaching a speed of more than 100
> words. Although the Optacon has not been manufactured for more than 23
> years, there are still blind individuals using the optacon in their jobs
> and daily lives today.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  If you would like to schedule a presentation contact me at
> theblindhistorylady at gmail.com
>
>
>
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-- 
Mike Hansen
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