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.
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 gadget 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.
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