Cell Phones for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Screen reading software can be very useful of course in elminating the barrier of having to read text on the screen in order to navigate on a cell phone. It's also handy for reading websites and other information brought up when using the browser.

Nuance TALKS offers technology that gives the user audio for their contacts, caller ID, text messages, web browsing and more. It even has support for over 20 languages. TALKS works with Symbian phones only. (You can also find other cell phone and tech products for the blind and visually impaired on their site.)

The Sendero Group provides a number of technology products including the KNFB Mobile Reader which is compatible with Symbian/Nokia phones.

Another option is offered by Code Factory; it's Mobile Speak software as well as TALKS is reviewed in this article. Mobile Speaks works with Symbian, Windows Mobile Smartphones, and Windows Mobile PocketPC.

Smart Hal by Dolphin is another of the options for those wanting text to speech capabilities and who have a Windows Mobile Smartphone.

Nokia's N82 and N86 both include KNFB text recognition technology that can allow users to take photos of items such as menus, labels, and much more and then have them read aloud. You can learn more about it's capabilities here.

Freedom Scientific is another company that produces products for those with low vision or blindness. Their JAWS screen reading software is well known.

Some cell phones/smartphones are also emerging with better screen reading software. The iPhone now offers a touchpad that is highly useable along with VoiceOver screen reading. You can learn about one person's experience with it here.

Voice Control can be of use for many people. All of us have situations in which our hands are otherwise occupied. For others with limited dexterity or use of their hands, voice control is great as well. For the blind and visually impaired, voice control can eliminate many of the problems encountered with key pads which offer little tactile feedback.

BlueAnt now offers the V1 Bluetooth Voice Control headset which allows users to control all cell phone functions by voice. It works with any Bluetooth enabled cell phone. This device can make some of todays most modern and useful smart phones much more accessible for blind and visually impaired individuals.

In addition, Nuance Voice Controls provides similar control for Blackberry, PocketPC, and Treo devices. Their Narrator product will also read e-mails.

Another product of interest might be Adela Voice's StartTalking. It's a free application and uses voice recognition software that allows the user to listen to and send text messages without touching or even looking at their mobile phone. It uses very little power and doesn't even require that the screen be turned on. It doesn't offer full voice control but it could be very handy. Currently, it's available for Android based cell phones and should be available for iPhones and Blackberry devices soon.

There are also voice control products that are designed for quadraplegics to give them handsfree, and sight free, calling. The handsfree option from QuadAdapt is one example which could prove useful for blind individuals as well.

Some phones are designed with larger text with greater contrast to make them easier to read. Certainly the Jitterbug models designed for the elderly are one example. Others include the Samsung Knack and Verizon Coupe.

Screen magnifiers are also available. For Symbian phones Code Factory offers their Mobile Magnifier and Nuance has ZOOMS.

Screen magnifying software works fairly well but certainly something more basic offers affordability for those with more vision. Magnifics offers a very basic magnifier for cell phone screens which slips over an existing phone screen and provides 2x magnification. They also offer an insert, Merlin's Window which provides additional magnification.

Braille keyboards can make accessing a cell phone easier for the blind. The Easy Link 12 allows users to read and write e-mails and text messages and in conjunction with Mobile Speak gives users control over their cell phone. It's small, light weight, and easy to connect with Bluetooth.

Pronto is another possibility for using text messaging as well.

There are now a number of cell phone applications offered that can help too. Android for instance offers "Walky Talky" which provides spoken directions, including street names, when an address is typed in and "Intersection Explorer" provides an interactive map that can be navigated and explored on screen before physically attempting to navigate the area. You can learn more about them here.

Currently, the number of cell phones designed specifically for those who are blind is very limited. Owaysys has the 22c which is a screen less cell phone that works on GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile. It has a speaking interface and easy keyboard with widely spaced buttons.

Work is underway on cell phones that will be more accessible for the blind and visually impaired. For instance, one development will allow the phone to detect and read signs, perhaps in a number of languages. Another development should make dialing a phone, even a touch screen phone much easier. The proposed technology can read the placement of the persons hand and allow them to dial from any point without having to target a particular spot on the keypad to activate a number. This article from the StarNewsOnline provides the details.

In addition, a company in India has reportedly developed a cell phone for the blind which features a braille keypad. Read more about the Spice Braille phone here. It launched in India in 2009 and hopefully it, or one of its descendants will be introduced to a larger market in the future. Development of a braille phone that does even more is being examined by Sumit Dagar and you can here more about it from a speech he made in 2011 at this link.

Another potential development will be the B-Touch phone which may give blind and visually impaired consumers the ability to use a Braille interface and simple sightless navigation with voice/speech recognition. The proposed phone will even scan and read text as well as recognize objects.

LG has the 8600S which can read books aloud, convert menu items and text messages into speech, dial by name, and more. You can read about it here

Photo Credits
Introduction: nicubunu.
Voice Control: robertdx.
Magnifiers: Jeffrey Beall.
Future Cell Phones for the Blind and Visually Impaired: james_nash.