By flipping the phone, though, Frey turned a smartphone's limited real estate into an advantage. Their apps typically demand that you type with just one hand, with the screen pointed toward your face.
#Numrich blind typing fingers position software
Other software developers have released Braille apps, but they've all struggled with the same problems. Writing e-mails during your morning commute is just downright dangerous, as these activities demand too many of your brain's cognitive abilities.įor stationary, automobile-less texting, BrailleTouch is an innovative, speedy app. The app's developers emphasize that their creation is not safe for use when you're behind the wheel, even if your eyes are still on the road. That's not to say that BrailleTouch is great for every situation. What's more, the audio-feedback feature of BrailleTouch may help popularize the app with sighted users who want a different way to compose their messages. That's in spite of the increasing accuracy and speed of text-to-speech applications and the fact that less than 20 percent of the United States' visually-impaired community can read Braille fluently. The accolades and interest show that even in today's tech-saturated world, Braille may continue to help visually-impaired people communicate. It also won the MobileHCI (Mobile Human-Computer Interaction) 2011 Design Competition in Stockholm. Language restrictions aside, even during its development phase, the app garnered attention from major media outlets.
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That may change, however, as the developers continue to update the software.
Braille is available in all widespread languages, but the most recent release of BrailleTouch works only in English. Language barriers, though, could continue to be an issue for some time yet. On the next page, find out exactly how the app makes texting faster and easier for just about everyone. In short, it's a fairly speedy, reliable way to compose text-based messages no matter where you might be, so long as you have your smartphone handy. Reading Braille, however, is much more difficult and isn't possible on a smartphone.Īfter a bit of practice, studies have shown that BrailleTouch users can easily average around 23 words per minute with accuracy greater than 90 percent. The app's developers are quick to point out that typing Braille takes very little time to learn, and their initial studies show that it doesn't take long for users to master the system. Unlike a traditional QWERTY keyboard, your fingers remain in the same position during typing so you're never left hunting in vain for correct finger placement. Touch the button or buttons that correspond to the letter you want, and the software inputs the character into your text or e-mail. You grasp the phone by placing your middle three fingers on each side of the app's keyboard. To use the system, you actually face the phone away from your body. You'll know when you make a mistake because BrailleTouch offers voice, click or vibration feedback. With the correct swiping gesture, you'll insert a space or delete an incorrect entry. Each combination is called a chord, which correlates to one of 63 different characters, including the entire alphabet as well as special characters such as commas and exclamation points. In order to compose a message, you press various combinations of these buttons. The BrailleTouch keyboard has the bare essentials, featuring just six on-screen buttons placed three to each side of the phone's screen. Translating the Braille system to a smartphone screen meant tweaking things a bit. As you'll discover in the following pages, BrailleTouch's ease-of-use and simple functionality results in a smartphone that's more powerful and user-friendly for just about anyone who needs fast text entry. The BrailleTouch app, on the other hand, installs into a much more affordable gadget, one that many people already own.īefore you even think it, no, this app isn't an easier way to text and drive - don't even think about it. The drawback? It weighs 2 pounds and costs as much as a small car. The Braille Sense PLUS, for example, let you type, read e-mails and texts, and even surf the Web.
There are other dedicated Braille devices available. Open source and free, BrailleTouch is a step forward in digital Braille composition. BrailleTouch is the brainchild of a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, who set out to make eyes-free text entry easier and faster than ever before. But with a new smartphone app called BrailleTouch, you can conjure text messages without even so much as glancing at your phone.
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