[Promotion-technology] Intel introduces a digital book reader that reads aloud to the blind

[Sam Joehl]

reader 1
Ben Foss grew up with dyslexia, a visual impairment so severe that his
mother had to read books to him throughout his school years, all the way
through
college. Now 36, he is spearheading the launch of a remarkable device from

Intel
 that can read electronic books aloud to the blind or visually impaired.
 
The 
Intel Reader
 is available today for $1,499.That's a pretty hefty price, considering
that devices like the $259 Amazon Kindle can read books aloud in a robotic
voice.
But the Intel Reader is based on a lot of research and is designed for the
visually impaired, first and foremost.
 
The reader can read digital files of books aloud. It can also capture
images from any printed material and use its text-to-speech technology to
read aloud
the publication at a variety of listening speeds. It also has a four-inch
color display that can render the words being read in large font sizes.
The device
can read millions of books that have been formatted online for
visually-impaired readers, and it comes with a high-resolution camera that
can convert printed
text to digital text. The reader can then read the words aloud to the
user. It can even work with web pages if users first capture the text from
a site
in a plain text file.
 
reader 3
"We want people to experience the independence of being able to read on
their own in a public place or anywhere they want to," said Foss (right),
speaking
at a press event on Monday. "A metaphor for this are the ramps that make
buildings wheelchair accessible. This reader is like a ramp."
 
The paperback-sized device is aimed at 55 million people in the U.S. who
have eyesight problems and don't want to be dependent on others for the
pleasure
of reading a novel, looking at a restaurant menu, or reading web site
pages. It comes with a 5-megapixel digital camera that can be used to snap
pictures
of book pages. Foss said he was able to scan a 262-page book in a half
hour and listen to the first chapter of the book while he was doing it.
The device
can read text in the DAISY format, plain text, as well as MP3 music files.
 
The product is a result of years of research in Intel's Digital Health
Group, headed by Louis Burns. The aim is to use technology to improve
quality of
life. That group has devised technologies that allow patients to be
monitored remotely so that they can stay home rather than be monitored in
an expensive
hospital. Intel hasn't had the best history with consumer products, but
Foss says the world's biggest chip maker is committed to the project and
to the
digital health market.
 
There are ways to use personal computers and digital cameras to do the
same thing with text-to-speech software. But the Intel Reader attempts to
take the
hassle out of the process. Other devices have not been designed directly
for the visually impaired, said Dorrie Rush, who is visually impaired
herself,
and works as the marketing director for the nonprofit Lighthouse
International, a foundation that helps the visually impaired. However, the

KNFB reader,
backed by futurist Ray Kurzweil, has been around for a couple of years and
is designed to work with Nokia N82 or N86 cell phones.
 
Intel has done its homework on the device, said Rush. That's why it has
support from Rush's group as well as other charitable instituions
including the
National Center for Learning Disabilities, the International Dyslexia
Association, the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, the
Council for
Exceptional Children, and the National Federation of the Blind. But Foss
noted Intel sees the reader as a for-profit business.
 
Foss noted that the packaging comes with Braille lettering that identifies
its manuals. It also has an audio CD that tells users how to use the
device.
The device does not come with built-in Wi-Fi networking because many
school don't allow web-connected devices in the classroom.
 
Rush, said that there are 15 million people like herself with impaired
eyesight that can't be corrected with lenses. She held a newspaper four
inches from
her face and noted she could only read the name of the paper and nothing
else.
 
reader 2
Foss said Intel tested its prototypes with more than 400 visually-impaired
users, including some with partial eyesight and some who were completely
blind.
The device can come with an Intel Portable Capture Station (right), which
costs extra. The station can be used to capture images of an entire book.
It
has a plastic guide that holds pages down while the camera can be placed
overhead. The button for placing the images is low on the station, since
many
visually-impaired people are older and don't have the strength to keep
raising their arms to take pictures. 'The image capture works even if a
book is
placed upside down.
 
The device has an Intel Atom microprocessor and two gigabytes of flash
memory storage. It runs Linux software and some third-party software for
scanning
and reading aloud. With a fully charged battery, the device can read aloud
for four hours. It can last for days on standby power. It can store about
500,000
pages of text or 600 pages of scanned book pages.
 
One of the cool features is the ability to change the speed of the voice
reading. If you set it to 110 words per minute, it sounds like a normal,
if robotic-sounding,
voice. At 250 words per minute, it sounds like a chipmunk talking. But
Foss said that is the speed he listens at when he is trying to absorb a
book quickly.
The voice sounds less robotic with headphones, and even less so if it is
set to a mode that emphasizes things like exclamation points. In that way,
it
can be used for informational reading or entertainment.
 
The Intel Reader will be available through resellers such as CTL, Don
Johston, GTSI, Howard Technology Solutions and Human Ware. Foss
acknowledged that
the price of the device isn't cheap, but he noted that the device has a
lot of custom-designed components, and it is cheaper than devices such as
Braille
readers,which can cost up to $10,000. Some devices for the blind take a
long time to learn, but the Intel Reader takes only a few hours to
internalize,
Rush said. Since Intel had priced the device fairly high, there is a risk
that it will be undercut by eBook readers that can be converted to handle
reading
aloud.
 
Foss said there are a variety of sources for the books, including the
Gutenberg Project and Book Share. The Internet Archive has 1.6 million
books available
to be read aloud. That includes out-of-copyright books such as Moby Dick
or Alice in Wonderland. He noted that copyright law allows readers to make
a copy
of a book for their own personal use. On top of that, there is an
exception to the law that allows books to be copies for use by disabled
people.
 
The device isn't perfect at capturing all of the nuances of print. In
scanning a newspaper, for instance, it may have trouble with layouts that
blend columns
of different stories together. It isn't really made for capturing and
translating street signs either.