The Advancement of Visual Technologies
Technology has come up with all sorts of ways to improve not only our future but also our present. Technology coupled with science is a stronger proposition altogether. Technology now is at the heart of helping not only the healthy amongst us but also those that have physical disability. In fact this is the area where most improvements are being made.
To elaborate on this further technology has helped those that have a hearing disability, with hearing aids, people who have missing limbs with prosthetic limbs and people who cannot speak with speech recognition software.
One area where technology has not made huge strides is for visually impaired people. Braille was invented for blind people to pick up ways to read but the usefulness of braille is somewhat limited in some circumstances. For example, when a visually impaired person is in a situation where they do not have access to braille text, like street signs and public notices.
There has been progress however been made from a company called Second Sight which have developed a product which can translate written words into a visual representation of Braille directly into a person's eye. The product works like a contact lens work for a person with clear visibility. The display that is generated is of a 10x6 size which then deciphers the text and presents it in braille form, all pretty much instantly.
Now how useful the technology will actually become is down to the usage but the product, which is called Argus II has progressed in its intended use. Initially, it was aimed at improving a view given to a person in a pixelated form just by differentiating light and dark with a brief outline of frames. However, with the new "Braille mode" a person can read signs and other text around them as well. Testing is still in its initial stage but the accuracy is hitting near 90% with the speed being slightly slower than braille. An average person can read 800 letters per minute by using their hands, i.e. by touch whilst initial tests show that this product can help pick one letter per second, a figure which is comparatively slower but can be vastly improved going forward.
This could be the starting point of a wonderful innovation which can vastly improve the living standard for the blind community.
