[Nfb-science] Fw: Reading things on-the-fly.

Tue Jul 8 15:16:50 UTC 2014

What bugs?  Do you know of them specifically?

Thanks,
David

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ed Meskys via Nfb-science" <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 6:52 AM
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Subject: [Nfb-science] Fw: Reading things on-the-fly.

----- Original Message ----- 
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 9:29 AM
Subject: Reading things on-the-fly.

Ed,

This sounds good!  Once they get the bugs out...

Matt

Medical Tech
New MIT finger device reads to blind in real time
Published July 08, 2014
Associated Press

A model wears a FingerReader ring at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology's Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo Stephan Savoia)

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an 
audio reading device to be worn on the index finger of people whose vision 
is impaired, giving them affordable and immediate access to printed words.

The so-called FingerReader, a prototype produced by a 3-D printer, fits like 
a ring on the user's finger, equipped with a small camera that scans text. A 
synthesized voice reads words aloud, quickly translating books, restaurant 
menus and other needed materials for daily living, especially away from home 
or office.

ADVERTISEMENT

Reading is as easy as pointing the finger at text. Special software tracks 
the finger movement, identifies words and processes the information. The 
device has vibration motors that alert readers when they stray from the 
script, said Roy Shilkrot, who is developing the device at the MIT Media 
Lab.

For Jerry Berrier, 62, who was born blind, the promise of the FingerReader 
is its portability and offer of real-time functionality at school, a 
doctor's office and restaurants.

"When I go to the doctor's office, there may be forms that I wanna read 
before I sign them," Berrier said.

He said there are other optical character recognition devices on the market 
for those with vision impairments, but none that he knows of that will read 
in real time.

Berrier manages training and evaluation for a federal program that 
distributes technology to low-income people in Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island who have lost their sight and hearing. He works from the Perkins 
School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

"Everywhere we go, for folks who are sighted, there are things that inform 
us about the products that we are about to interact with. I wanna be able to 
interact with those same products, regardless of how I have to do it," 
Berrier said.

Pattie Maes, an MIT professor who founded and leads the Fluid Interfaces 
research group developing the prototype, says the FingerReader is like 
"reading with the tip of your finger and it's a lot more flexible, a lot 
more immediate than any solution that they have right now."

Developing the gizmo has taken three years of software coding, experimenting 
with various designs and working on feedback from a test group of visually 
impaired people. Much work remains before it is ready for the market, 
Shilkrot said, including making it work on cellphones.

Shilkrot said developers believe they will be able to affordably market the 
FingerReader but he could not yet estimate a price. The potential market 
includes some of the 11.2 million people in the United States with vision 
impairment, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Current technology used in homes and offices offers cumbersome scanners that 
must process the desired script before it can be read aloud by 
character-recognition software installed on a computer or smartphone, 
Shilkrot said. The FingerReader would not replace Braille - the system of 
raised dots that form words, interpreted by touch. Instead, Shilkrot said, 
the new device would enable users to access a vast number of books and other 
materials that are not currently available in Braille.

Developers had to overcome unusual challenges to help people with visual 
impairments move their reading fingers along a straight line of printed text 
that they could not see. Users also had to be alerted at the beginning and 
end of the reading material.

Their solutions? Audio cues in the software that processes information from 
the FingerReader and vibration motors in the ring.

The FingerReader can read papers, books, magazines, newspapers, computer 
screens and other devices, but it has problems with text on a touch screen, 
said Shilkrot.

That's because touching the screen with the tip of the finger would move 
text around, producing unintended results. Disabling the touch-screen 
function eliminates the problem, he said.

Berrier said affordable pricing could make the FingerReader a key tool to 
help people with vision impairment integrate into the modern information 
economy.

"Any tool that we can get that gives us better access to printed material 
helps us to live fuller, richer, more productive lives, Berrier said.

-- 
"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie- deliberate, 
contrived and dishonest, but the myth- persistent, persuasive and 
unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the 
discomfort of thought"
JFK

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