At a touch, gadget can read to the blind: Ring-like device says words aloud as it is scanned over a block of text
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The FingerReader, worn like a ring, is equipped with a device which scans text then reads it aloud
A device that can read aloud any word it is pointed at could transform the lives of the blind or partially-sighted.
The gadget, developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, is designed to be worn on the finger like a ring.
When it is held over words on a printed page or a digital screen a synthesized voice reads the sentences out loud.
The device could give people with impaired vision the ability to understand written material in any form - from bus signs to medication notes to a restaurant menu.
It could also enable users to access the vast number of books and other materials that are not currently available in Braille.
The device, called the FingerReader, is equipped with a small camera that scans text.
Reading is as easy as pointing the finger at text. Special software tracks the finger movement, identifies words and processes the information.
The device includes vibration motors that alert readers when they stray from the script.
Professor Pattie Maes, who leads the team which developed the prototype said: 'It 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.'
Jerry Berrier of Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, said: 'When I go to the doctor's office, there may be forms that I want to read before I sign them.
'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 want to be able to interact with those same products, regardless of how I have to do it.'
The FingerReader could be a breakthrough that transforms the lives of the blind or partially sighted
Developing the gadget has taken three years of software coding and experimenting with different designs.
One problem that the developers have not yet cracked is how to make it work with touch-screen smart phones and tablets.
At the moment, as the finger is run along a touch screen it moves the text, making it difficult for the FingerReader to capture the words.
That is a problem the MIT team need to solve before the device is ready for market.
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