theartofchan:

Wearable Device Reads Text for the Blind

FingerReader is a wearable ring that scans written text and reads it out loud to visually impaired readers.

The prototype is created by MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group.  As readers trace lines of text with their finger, the camera determines the words on the page and translates the text to speech to recite each word out loud to the reader. The ring will vibrate if the user’s finger starts to shift off the correct line of text, or if they’ve reached the end of the line.

When moving to a new line, the device compares the words it’s already processed to make sure it doesn’t repeat a piece of text.

While only in the prototype stage, if successful, this piece of wearable tech could render braille books obsolete.  What other types of technology have you see that help those with disabilities?