Intel’s E-reader brings hope to millions of visually impaired people.


As of the 10th November, computer giants Intel began selling an e-reader which the user can use to scan any piece of writing, be they newspaper/magazine and so on, and the reader will read the writing back to them. This hi-tech reader is set to take America by storm with introduction into the UK to follow soon. With an estimated 55 million people in the United States alone that could benefit from this device, the remarkable affects this could have on the visually impaired becomes very clear.

The E-reader works by taking a photograph of the chosen text that the user wishes to read and can be either converted into one which the reader can display as a large, readable text or one in which it is read aloud. This isn’t all the E-reader can do; it can take up to 600 of these photographs and store them on its 2GB memory. Therefore, an entire novel could be stored within the reader allowing the user to travel with the reader alone and enjoy the novel without interruptions for photographs.

The special interface of the reader allows people with certain visual impairments to read the screen more clearly and provides a much more transportable, easier to use device than other text magnifiers. Equally, the text can be read back to the user at varied speeds; e.g. if the user is also hard of hearing, the text can be read back at a slower pace. Therefore, the reader doesn’t just help people with visual problems but people with other conditions such as dyslexia.

Priced at £900 the device may seem of an expensive nature; but the price may be small to pay for all those who had given up on having the pleasure of reading various materials ever again. Additionally, the device can double up as an mp3 player and also has DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) software installed into it which is used for publishing books for people with reading problems.

23rd November 2009

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