A Earpiece-Phone Combo for the Blind

[Guest]

Who would've thought a phone for the blind could work for everyone else?

A Earpiece-Phone Combo for the Blind : Read more

 

[mkramer0820]

NO DOUBT all that needs to be said.

 

[m-manla]

That is cool. What a great idea. This should sell pretty good.

 

[crinky]

the blind guy will never see the thug coming to steal his cell.

 

[loomis86]

Fix the title. what are ya, illiterate?

"AN earpiece..."

Jiminy christmas lemme ax you sumpin bra. was ya raizd in a home like a homeboy? or in a house wear their wuz books an shit, wif parents an all? neva mind, i think i no.

 

[Clintonio]

I'm looking forwards to the day we stop hearing about Braille. I'd love to see a world where no one is blind.

 

[makwy2]

This sounds like an interesting idea. "dynamic" outputs for Braille have been tried in a number of ways but so far there hasn't been much progress.

To be honest the accessibility options on most smart phones allow many visually impaired users to use iPhones, BlackBerries, and Windows Phones without special devices or software. Any progress is good progress though!

 

[aaron686]

I love how the disabled are not forgotten, first the headphones that the deaf can "feel" and now this, way to go technology. And no that was not sarcasm.

 

[Guest]

I'd be surprised if braille readers can detect "slightly warm" OLEDs. Typical braille electronic displays use raised dots.

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]gesacks[/nom]I'd be surprised if braille readers can detect "slightly warm" OLEDs. Typical braille electronic displays use raised dots.[/citation]
spatial discrimination for temperature is not as good as for light touch, because there are not enough receptors in the skin to allow for good resolution. In other words, we can not feel those dots as separate if we use temperature receptors, but we can feel them using the light touch sense. That's why Braille uses touch and not heat. And that's why this idea, although sounds good in theory, will never be practical at this scale/size.

 

[zmbcat]

[citation][nom]house70[/nom]spatial discrimination for temperature is not as good as for light touch, because there are not enough receptors in the skin to allow for good resolution. In other words, we can not feel those dots as separate if we use temperature receptors, but we can feel them using the light touch sense. That's why Braille uses touch and not heat. And that's why this idea, although sounds good in theory, will never be practical at this scale/size.[/citation]
As blind peoples senses sharpen, maybe they could get used to sensing just the heat of braille. One way or another, i sure hope this thing gets into production lines.

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]zmbcat[/nom]As blind peoples senses sharpen, maybe they could get used to sensing just the heat of braille. One way or another, i sure hope this thing gets into production lines.[/citation]
I wish that were true. It's just a matter of receptor density in the skin, something akin to the pixels on a display. If the display has a low native resolution, everything will show up in low res, regardless of the quality of the signal. It's just how our skins are made.
Sense sharpening is a matter of training an receptor to pick up signals to it's maximum capacity, not beyond. People that can see so not use their skin for Braille, they just dont use the maximum ability of their sense organ, in that case the skin.
When there is a "hardware" limitation, there is nothing one can do about it. Sorry.
However, if this idea picks up with Braille electronic displays that use raised dots, it will be a winner for sure.

 

[zmbcat]

[citation][nom]house70[/nom]I wish that were true. It's just a matter of receptor density in the skin, something akin to the pixels on a display. If the display has a low native resolution, everything will show up in low res, regardless of the quality of the signal. It's just how our skins are made. Sense sharpening is a matter of training an receptor to pick up signals to it's maximum capacity, not beyond. People that can see so not use their skin for Braille, they just dont use the maximum ability of their sense organ, in that case the skin. When there is a "hardware" limitation, there is nothing one can do about it. Sorry.However, if this idea picks up with Braille electronic displays that use raised dots, it will be a winner for sure.[/citation]
ok i get it, wonder if they could somehow simulate sense of "raised dots" on a device, having the surface itself raised seems like a lot of trouble.

 

[sabot00]

[citation][nom]zmbcat[/nom]ok i get it, wonder if they could somehow simulate sense of "raised dots" on a device, having the surface itself raised seems like a lot of trouble.[/citation]
I won't be hard to get the surface to raise a little, touchscreens already are pretty flexible, and they can use something like the BlackBerry Storm's snap.