Boing Boing: Handheld device converts text to speech for blind people

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Handheld device converts text to speech for blind people

Inventor Ray Kurzweil has shipped a £2,625 handheld device for blind people that you aim at any text and it reads aloud. I saw a demo of this at the Singularity Summit in Stanford last month and it really worked -- mindblowingly well. The audience loved the demo -- Kurzweil aimed it at a copy of his book on the podium and let it read aloud.

The K-NFB gives the user an initial "situation report", describing what it can see. The user then makes a decision about whether to take a picture.
After a few seconds to process the image, the contents of the document are read aloud.
A set of earbuds come as standard, but the sound could also be routed through a Bluetooth headset or a set of speakers.
Sight & Sound says it will help with the ad-hoc reading of documents such as bills and receipts, instructions on food packaging or medication or emergency evacuation notices in hotels.

Link (via Futurismic)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:28:49 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

suggest a link \| defeat censorware \| rss \| archives \| t-shirts \| digital emporium \| podcast feed \| mark \| cory \| david \| xeni \| john
Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	Wednesday, June 21, 2006 Handheld device converts text to speech for blind people Inventor Ray Kurzweil has shipped a £2,625 handheld device for blind people that you aim at any text and it reads aloud. I saw a demo of this at the Singularity Summit in Stanford last month and it really worked -- mindblowingly well. The audience loved the demo -- Kurzweil aimed it at a copy of his book on the podium and let it read aloud. The K-NFB gives the user an initial "situation report", describing what it can see. The user then makes a decision about whether to take a picture. After a few seconds to process the image, the contents of the document are read aloud. A set of earbuds come as standard, but the sound could also be routed through a Bluetooth headset or a set of speakers. Sight & Sound says it will help with the ad-hoc reading of documents such as bills and receipts, instructions on food packaging or medication or emergency evacuation notices in hotels. Link (via Futurismic) posted by Cory Doctorow at 10:28:49 PM permalink \| Other blogs' comments Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: