Peripherals for the Visually Impaired? 57
schmiddy asks: "My father, a self-proclaimed Internet junkie, recently lost most of his eyesight, but he can still see a bit out of his right eye (enough to read magnified text on a monitor, with a narrow field of view). As he spends a large amount of his time surfing the web and reading, he's been finding it hard to cope. I've seen a lot of cool toys out there for the rest of us, but can the Slashdot crowd recommend any special monitors, peripherals, or (preferably (F)OSS) text to speech or other software that would help? I think he would much rather continue reading the old-fashioned way than having to use a hack like a Braille output. Also, what about the idea of simply using a large TV screen as a computer monitor?"
Go with the simple stuff (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
DLP and LCD projector and back-projection TVs also have the advantage that he will not be showered in radiation...
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:2)
stickers? (Score:4, Informative)
large print keyboard
samples at
http://www.fentek-ind.com/lrgprt.htm
these are nice, I've seen them much cheaper elsewhere
Re:stickers? (Score:1)
-Chu
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:1)
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:3, Informative)
Use Opera - Keypad +/- zoom up down very nicely.
Although a TV lacks the resolution of a monitor, skin tones and pictures look better due to some sort of airbrushing effect.
TV's are optimised for linearity: monitors are optimised for sharpness. Monitors often have greater persistance, which reduces flicker but tends to give blurry trails on movement.
For those with normal sight, a monitor is undoubtedly better than a TV for compu
Re:Go with the simple stuff (Score:1)
No point. Just thought I'd say that.
Festival (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/
sorry to hear about your dad's vision (Score:5, Interesting)
His solution was to use a very large monitor (for the time), something like a 21" with the text magnified to a point that was comfortable for him. Basically the text was about
I think I would've begun to lose sight in MY eyes trying to work from his screen but it seemed to work for him.
Check the OS (Score:5, Informative)
eg.
Windows (XP) has magnification, text to speech, alternative input, etc.
Mac (OS X) has magnigication (which magnifies the whole screen and uses the cursor to also move around your 'viewing window'), text to speech, high contrast, etc.
Re:Check the OS (Score:5, Interesting)
A large high quality magnifying glass is far better then any of the screen magnifiers. With a magnifiying glass it is possible to use some positional information from the screen because the user can determine where the magnified part of the screen is in relation to the rest.
I have found that text based tools can work better then GUI based. With text based tools it is easier to blow up the font to 2 inch high letters (and larger). This works well with a minimal window manager with no overlapping windows like ion or ratpoison. GUIs tend to waste too much screen space, especially when you increase the font size. With a magnifying glass the buttons and icons don't need to be huge.
There is a screen reader for emacs, but I have not used it. My client is partially deaf as well.
Re:Check the OS (Score:2, Informative)
While the pointer/cursor maneuvers the actual view displayed on the screen through the greater "windowing/desktop" environment, the pointer is in the same place on the visible screen as it (and the visible screen) is in relation to the windowing/desktop environment.
For example, when the pointer is in t
Crapy OS tools. (Score:2)
The 'accessibility wizard' is a complete joke -- it asks you to click on the largest text you can read comfortably, and then on the next screen, goes right back to something in the 10-12pt range.
And it doesn't increase the size of all text -- especially not dialog windows generated by the OS or most other applications. It only really affects the desktop, and web browsers. And you still have to go
Re:Crapy OS tools. (Score:2)
And don't try using 640x480 on windows anymore
This is a common problem if you set your font size to "large" and are forced back to vga mode for any reason. I think it has been an annoyance since windows 95.
HDTV (Score:4, Informative)
640x720 or whatever...and the higher resolutions.
Go with that.
Re:HDTV (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:HDTV (Score:2)
Re:HDTV (Score:1)
Re: Screen Resolution (Score:3, Informative)
However, be advised that most HDTVs including mine have very terrible screen resolutions via the designated computer port. My set supports a maximum of 1024x768 and on a 50" screen, no amount of anti-aliasing is going to prevent jaggies. At some point in time, reading jagged text that big is just going to crea
I know (Score:3, Funny)
Free and Open Source Software for Blind people (Score:5, Informative)
SpeakUp [linux-speakup.org]
EmacSpeak [sourceforge.net]
Just use a bigger monitor? (Score:5, Funny)
Tool.. (Score:5, Informative)
The free (beer) version of Opera displays small adverts, but you can choose their category.. Or you can couch up USD40 for the registered version.
Opera is also feature-rich and still fast.
Re:Tool.. (Score:2)
Re:Tool.. (Score:2)
Text quality can make a difference. I depends on the type and ammount of vision lose.
It is pretty sad that many people will run monitors at low resolutions so that they have larger fonts. MacOSX is nasty as MacOSX assumes 72 dpi. You can't change it. I find this particularly annoying as I type this on a 133dpi LCD. You can change the dpi in Windows, but beyond the "large font", "small font" options it does not seem to do much. X
Re:Tool.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tool.. (Score:1)
OnocularSX (Score:5, Informative)
Combined with that feature, you have inverted color modes which can sometimes be easier to read depending on the impairment. The enhanced contrast feature also takes out the drop shadows on elements making objects more defined. Large on screen command keys will also overlay if you desire to help ensure that you're holding down the correct keys and combinations.
Built in voice recognition for commands may speed up the process a bit as well. Although it's not flawless and takes some time to 'train' the computer to your Father's voice.
Text highlighted by the cursor will be spoken aloud via the tex-to-voice feature, and most applications will allow you to highlight bodies of text and will attempt to read them aloud to you via the same tech.
Any simple G3 or G4 would suffice, a model that has the capacity to output to a larger display/television would also help.
Those of us with severe handicaps can benefit from this a lot, hope you find some way to help out your old man.
Re:OnocularSX (Score:2)
I use the text to voice often, it's quite good
Very large monitors are available cheaply... (Score:5, Informative)
Note also that sometimes people who are losing their sight need brightness more than size, and a very bright screen, such as a presentation monitor, might be a better solution than simply buying a larger screen. Also make sure that webpage colors are overridden by the browser, and don't show background images.
-Adam
Start low tech (Score:5, Insightful)
I have found that text based tools can work better then GUI based. With text based tools it is easier to blow up the font to 2 inch high letters (and larger). This works well with a minimal window manager with no overlapping windows like ion or ratpoison. GUIs tend to waste too much screen space, especially when you increase the font size. With a magnifying glass the buttons and icons don't need to be huge.
Simple software with few dialogs and popups, and a consistent behaviour is key. My partially sighted client tends to use keyboard navigation and short cuts. They navigate throught the windows and screens from memory. For example to send an email they type: ALT-N "recipient" TAB "subject" TAB "message" CTRL-ENTER.
A single randomly occuring bug is devistateing. I found early versions of MS outlook express to be particularly bad at not always returning to the same state after a given action. The focus caret would sometimes move between the folder list and the email list. This was not a problem I noticed until my client complained.
When helping a partially sighted users continually ask how the display can be better. As a sighted person you really don't know what they need to be able to better read and interact with the computer. Little things like serif, sans serif, or monospaced fonts can make a big difference. As can colours and contrast.
Ofcourse remember that this experience is far more frustrateing for them then it is for you.
Re:Start low tech (Score:1)
Some random knowledge about hardware (Score:5, Informative)
Using a TV as huge monitor: I own a very recent TV with 100 Hz (storing a 50 Hz PAL picture and displaying it twice) that also has a VGA input, limited to 640x480 @ 60Hz. You can not calibrate the picture geometry as exactly as with a high end VGA monitor, so squares look like hand-drawn boxes and circles look like eggs. High contrast test pictures (three bars white-black-white across the entire screen) influence the geometry as well. So this is no solution you want to use day by day for several hours. But it is usable for surfing and mailing. Some problematic websites assume a resolution of at least 800x600, so you have to scroll a lot. Opera [opera.com] in full screen mode (F11 key) is usable.
Using a beamer: This beasts are loud, need a lot of power, and a replacement light bulb costs half of a new beamer. But you get 800x600 or even 1024x768 at a screen size of 2 meters or more, depending on the quality of the beamer. But you need the room for that picture.
Huge keyboards for nearly blind people or people having trouble with fine motor manipulations: Simple! There are several vendors offering custon keyboards for electronic cash register systems. Those systems are essentially stripped-down PCs, so you should have no interfacing problems. A friend of mine (suffering spasticity) uses a standard PC keyboard combined with a cash register keyboard at work. That keyboard has a matrix of programmable push buttons and can be equipped with key caps that fit one, two, or four (2x2) pushbuttons. He uses it with 2x2 key caps, so he has the 20 most used keys on the cash register keyboard rapidly available even with spasticity, and for the other 80 keys, he still can use the standard keyboard, with a "speed penality".
Mouse replacement: I don't look at my mouse, I feel its case and buttons. I know where it is placed, about 5 to 10 cm right of my keyboard. No need to look away from the screen. So I guess blind people should have not much problems using a mouse. My friend (suffering spasticity) uses a standard mouse (now wireless, but just for fun) with no special hardware, I just slowed down the settings in the mouse driver (low speed, low acceleration). He's not as fast as me using Windows, but he reaches nearly the speed of an average Windows user. A touchpad or that little nipple on IBM laptops would be horror for him, but I think he could also work with a trackball, with a little training. We also tried a special mouse driver that used a low cost PC joystick to move the mouse cursor. It was quite usable, but my friend decided to use a standard mouse, mostly because the driver conflicted with the games that needed a joystick.
Tux2000
DLP or Large Monitor (Score:1)
Re:Peripherals for the Visually Impaired (Score:2, Interesting)
braille (Score:3, Interesting)
I've worked with JAWS... (Score:5, Informative)
The company I used to work for used JAWS [clb.org] for allowing blind employees to use windows software.
It interfaces very well out of the box with standard applications, like IE, and it also allows you to write custom scripts so that it is usable with any application. We had to heavily customize it to work with out proprietary apps. It also interfaces well with many braille readers and text-to-speech synthesizers.
The downside is that it's expensive, and hardware to extend the functionality is also very expensive.
Re:I've worked with JAWS... (Score:1)
I guess my only addition would to vouch for it. A visually impaired fella at my work uses it and says he happy with that, in conjuction with other tricks.
He's a top telesales guy having the customer in one earpiece and the computer speech voice in the other. Amazing dude.
Thanks for all the suggestions! (Score:3, Interesting)
I was surprised, and happy, to see the link [ebay.com] to that big Gateway monitor (too bad for WA only).. I've never seen monitors over 21-22" before, and even those are usually mondo-expensive and aimed towards graphic designers and so forth.
I'm not sure yet whether I'm gonna have to set him up with a real big monitor/TV or depend on software for magnification/text to speech because we're not sure how bad his vision is going to get. . he went from being a regular glasses-wearer to near blind in like a week, was kind of scary. Makes me really value my health at this point.
Anyway thanks for all the suggestions, got to run to class so haven't been able to follow around all the links but I'll get around to it. Thanks!
P.S. Also, I appreciate the idea of the big keyboards.. I've seen them in my googling, but hadn't really thought much of them. But I don't think me dad ever learned to touch-type as well as he should have by this point, so he could probably use one of them.
Watch the dot-bomb auctions. (Score:2)
If you find a display that's ONLY a monitor, you should be able to get it cheap. [ie, it has no TV tuner in it as well]. The ones that are sold as 'HDTV ready' are going to go for more, as they're useable by the general public, and not just the vision impared or those who want them for a conference room, and can't use a p
Off-Topic? Where can I get a phone-strobe-light? (Score:1)
I'm interested in a device that deaf people have -- that notices the phone ring, and turns on a strobe/siren light. That way I can know the phone is ringing, even when blasting music.
Gimme.
Ring signalers and RENs (Score:1)
My phones are broken in a weird way where only one of my three phones rings each time I receive a call.
Probably because your phones exert too much of a load on the line. Look at the bottom of a phone; it should have some sort of "Ringer Equivalence Number". The RENs on one phone line should not exceed 5.0 or so.
And if you're looking for signalers that can power a lamp when the phone is ringing, try this [google.com].
Visually impaired equipment... (Score:3, Interesting)
I put together a magnifier and color compression utility [codevis.com] for Windows that might be useful, but it's experimental rather than a production app - unless he has color deficiencies (e.g. the blue-colorblindness associated with diabetes) then you'll do better with the built-in magnifier in windows or other software available on the internet [magnifiers.org].
I've thought about making a simple application using a standard web camera and blowing up the image from it to full screen.. Right now there are a lot of proprietary systems out there for doing such though that might be useful.
Some folks take this stuff really seriously... (Score:5, Informative)
...and some of the posters here just pull answers out of thin air.
My employer, [irs.gov] however, has a long-standing commitment to employing the visually-impaired. We have a large support office dedicated solely to their needs. From the intranet site of that office, let me offer a couple of things.
First, here's the general background paragraphs designed to let managers know what sort of things can be done to assist people with low vision:
As for specific items available for us to install and use, this is the list for low vision folks. Note that you'll need to Google various terminology to get a look at the actual products. (I apologize for the way the lameness filter has forced me to mangle this list by cramming everything onto one line; I hope it's still reasonably readable.)
Note that that's a long list of equipment and training aids, many of which aren't applicable to your situation. But if you don't get some good ideas from that list, you're just not trying. I work with this equipment all the time and I gotta tell ya, it's truly gratifying to set up a computer so that a blind or nearly-blind person can use it and make a living instead of being dependent on other people. Good luck in your efforts. They will be worth whatever effor they require.
Braille display (Score:3, Funny)
Text-to-speech & other stuff. (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a friend with retinitis pigmentosa who is legally blind, but has some vision left. He was running a Windows box with a few tricks: a high-contrast color scheme with a black background and gaudy purple and yellow text & widget decorations. He also used a text magnifier and a tool that snapped the mouse cursor to the middle of the screen when he middle-clicked (he frequently lost the mouse cursor.) He also had a hardware speech synthesizer, with text-to-speech software that would read icon labels when he moused over them, read web pages, emails, documents, etc.
For an open-source solution, you might want to try Festival [ed.ac.uk], an open-source speech synthesis system.
oralux (Score:1)
They seem like decent guys so please lets try to not
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