Type Reading Machines for the Blind

Abstract

The most advanced personal type reading machine described provides the blind user with an aural “spelled speech” equivalent for each upper- and lower-case letter or ligature scanned by a hand-held optical probe. This character recognition machine recognizes the most popular type fonts with moderate accuracy and speed (80-90 words-per-minute). The development of the hand-held probe for this machine has resulted in a family of aural and tactile “direct translation” reading aids which are pocket-sized and battery-operated and may be used independently for low-speed reading.