[nfbmi-talk] Braille iPhone App

[Fred Wurtzel]

Georgia Tech researchers turn an iPhone into a Braille writer with
BrailleTouch app

By

Michael Gorman

editor/michael-gorman/rss.xml

postedFeb 18th 2012 8:28PM

Georgia Tech researchers turn an iPhone into a Braille writer with
BrailleTouch app

It wasn't all that long ago that we saw a student

turn a tablet into a Braille writer

, and now some researchers from Georgia Tech have done the same thing for
smaller

touchscreens, too. The Yellow Jackets produced a prototype app, called
BrailleTouch,

that has six keys to input letters using the Braille writing system and
audio to

confirm each letter as it's entered. To use the app, you simply turn the
phone face

down, hold it in landscape mode and start typing. As you can see above, it's
currently

running on an iPhone, but the researchers see it as a universal eyes-free
texting

app for any touchscreen. Early studies with people proficient in Braille
writing

show that typing on BrailleTouch is six times faster than other eyes-free
texting

solutions -- up to 32 words per minute at 92 percent accuracy. Skeptical of
such

speeds? Check out the PR and video of the app in action after the break.

Watch on YouTube

BrailleTouch Helps Visually Impaired Users

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