The blind and visually impaired community has access to a variety of apps that can help them navigate their daily lives.
Apps like Be My Eyes, which connects blind people with sighted volunteers across the world, or OpenDots, where users can connect with others in real-time via video chat are just two examples of how technology is helping the blind community connect and overcome barriers.
The following list highlights some of the best apps for the blind.
Best Apps For The Blind
Braille Works looks to the tech world this week. We’re highlighting some of the most useful mobile apps which play a role in the visually impaired community. It’s rare to find someone that isn’t glued to their smartphone these days. But, with that dependence on technology, many have found independence for themselves.
Need to know how far you’ve walked in a day? There’s an app for that. Need to know how many calories you’ve eaten? There’s an app for that. Need to know where you’re spending your money? Yep, you’ve guessed it- there’s an app for that too. But what if you need exact directions because you can’t visually see the landmarks or map of the city you’re visiting? Or you can’t tell if you’re holding a can of beets or cranberry sauce until you open it? Well, for those with blindness, thankfully there’s an app for that too.
5 of the Best Mobile Apps for Users who are Blind or Visually Impaired
Apps have made life easier for many people living with blindness or a visual impairment. Being able to read things that are only in visual print, was a task that might have required a non-sighted person to seek the help of another. But apps in combination with the ever growing presence of technology grant people new ways of reading things and doing really anything. We learn to read with our ears and write with our voices.
Voice-over features on smartphones are a game changer. They grant the same access to the digital world to nonsighted users like everyone else. In turn, it seems that more people realize that blind people matter too. Microsoft pushed for more accessible versions of Windows. Netflix adopted audio description technology for its programs. And, everywhere we look, we’re redefining the definition of “to look”. People are people no matter how they “see”. And, apps are helping people level the playing field and be more independent. We’re going to focus on 5 mobile apps for the blind that have really made a difference.
Related: 9 Apps for Accessibility Technology
- LookTel: The Money Identifier Mobile App
LookTel Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people experiencing visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills. [Learn More]
Image showing a LookTel Money Reader screenshot. Image shows a twenty dollar bill and a fifty Euros currensy note
- KNFB Reader App: Reads Virtually Any Text Aloud
The KNFB Reader converts printed text into high-quality speech to provide accurate, fast, and efficient access to both single and multiple page documents with the tap of a button on the iPhone. [Learn More]
Image of a screenshot of the KNFB Reader showing highlighted text that is read aloud.
- TapTapSee: Identify Objects Through Photos
TapTapSee is designed to help the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives. Simply double tap the screen and take a photo of anything, at any angle. You’ll hear the app speak the identification back to you (Note: Requires VoiceOver to be turned on). [Learn More]
Image of a TapTapSee screenshot showing a can of soup and a five dollar bill.
- Color ID Free: Discovers the Names of the Colors Around You
Color ID Free uses the camera on your iPhone to speak the names of colors in real-time. [Learn More]
Image of a Color ID Free screenshot showing a pair of Beats by Dre headphones
- Be My Eyes: The One Everyone’s Been Talking About- People Helping People in Real-Time
Be My Eyes – Be the eyes for a blind person in need of help remotely through a live video connection if you are sighted or be assisted by the network of sighted users if you are blind. [Learn More]
Image of a Be My Eyes screenshot showing a user profile on the left and two cans on the right. One is a can of coconut milk and the other is tomatoes.
We know there’s way more than just 5 useful apps out there and we’d love to hear what apps you have found helpful in your life! Has there been a game-changing app that you’ve come across? How has your life changed because of technology?
Tell us about it on Facebook and Twitter or email us today to talk about how we can help bridge that gap between businesses and their blind customers. Let’s connect on LinkedIn– a piece of tech that in and of itself is changing the way professionals connect every day.
best text to speech app for visually impaired
It is not difficult for a sighted person to imagine how being blind or visually impaired could make using a computer difficult. Just close your eyes and you will instantly experience that even processing text is impossible – or impossible without additional software at least. Now a range of software is available that can help to make using a computer an easier, more enjoyable and more productive experience for blind or visually impaired users.
For in-depth insights on accessibility, we recommend the online course on Accessibility at the Interaction Design Foundation.
Essential Software: A Screen Reader
A screen reader is an essential piece of software for a blind or visually impaired person. Simply put, a screen reader transmits whatever text is displayed on the computer screen into a form that a visually impaired user can process (usually tactile, auditory or a combination of both). While the most basic screen readers will not help blind users navigate a computer, those with additional features can give people with visual impairment much more independence.
Whilst most screen readers work by having a synthetic voice that reads text aloud, others can also communicate data via a refreshable braille display. Such screen readers make use of crystals that can expand when exposed to particular voltage levels (thanks to a phenomenon known as the Piezo Effect), allowing visually impaired users to use their fingers to read the text that is displayed on screen. But while screen-reading software can be affordable, such hardware is usually very expensive.
Free Software Makes ‘Universal’ Access a Reality
Many people could not afford the expensive price tag associated with some of the more sophisticated screen readers. Luckily for them, there are several screen reading software that are completely free. The following is a list of free screen readers that one can download:
NVDA (Windows)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-NVDA
NVDA has been designed by a blind software engineering graduate, James Teh, for use with Windows computers. This free and open source screen reader has a synthetic voice that reads whatever the cursor hovers over, and can be used directly from a USB stick, making it ideal for students.
Serotek System Access (Windows)
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This downloadable and complete screen reader can be used even outside your browser, thus making it one of the quickest ways of getting a screen reader up and running on your system. Serotek offers extended versions for a fee, although it is much cheaper than other screen readers.
Apple VoiceOver (OS X)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-Apple-VoiceOver
Apple VoiceOver includes options to magnify, keyboard control and verbal descriptions in English to describe what is happening on screen. It also reads aloud file content as well as web pages, E-mail messages and word processing files whilst providing a relatively accurate narrative of the user’s workspace. This covers a wide array of keyboard commands that enable user navigation of the Mac OS X interface.
ORCA (Linux)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-ORCA
ORCA is a Linux based screen reader which has also been evolving for the past number of years. Although it is not the sole Linux-based screen reader, ORCA is definitely the most popular. Recently it has been included with the Ubuntu installation CD, and with a couple of initial key presses it allows blind people to have audible interaction during the installation process.
BRLTTY (Linux)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-BRLTTY
BRLTTY is a background process (daemon) which provides access to the Linux/Unix console (when in text mode) for a blind person using a refreshable braille display. It drives the braille display, and provides complete screen review functionality. Some speech capability has also been incorporated.
Emacspeak (Linux)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-Emacspeak
Emacspeak is a free speech interface and that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and efficiently with the computer. Its technology enables it to produce rich aural representation of electronic information. Emacspeak offers audible interface of the different aspects of the Internet such as browsing and messaging as well as local and remote information via a consistent and well-integrated user interface.
WebAnywhere (All OSs, Web browsers)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-WebAnywhere
WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reader for the web. It requires no special software to be installed on the client machine and, therefore, enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card
Spoken Web (Internet Explorer)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-SpokenWeb
Spoken-Web is a Web portal, managing a wide range of online data-intensive content like news updates, weather, travel and business articles for computer users who are blind or visually impaired. The site provides a simple, easy-to-use interface for navigating between the different sections and articles. Using the keyboard to navigate, a person who is blind or who has a visual impairment can hear the full range of an article content provided in a logical, clear, and understandable manner.
ChromeVox (Google Chrome)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-Google-ChromeVox
Google ChromeVox is a Google Chrome screen reader extension for visually impaired users.
ChromeVis (Google Chrome)
10-Free-Software-For-Visually-Impaired-Blind-Users-Google-ChromeVis
Google ChromeVis is a Google Chrome extension that magnifies any selected text on a webpage. The magnified text is displayed inside of a separate lens and preserves the original page layout. Users can change both the lens text color and the lens background color.
Software for Work and Play
Such software is essential for blind users to read the content of web pages or communicate with friends and colleagues. As more sophisticated software has been made available to a larger audience, people have begun turning their attention to developing leisure programs that are designed with accessibility in mind. For example, the website blindsoftware.com has an accessible mp3 player to download and a selection of games.
Developing Software for Everyone
When it comes to universal access, several people with hearing or visual impairments or illnesses have found that it can become a barrier to using traditional software. The goal is to remove those perceived barriers and help them be able to achieve results beyond their imagination. This is why it is important that developers continue to work on making software as accessible as they can for a wide range of people, so everyone can benefit from the powerful tools computers offer.
Want to learn more?
If you’d like to brush up on Accessibility and get practical skills on the subject, then consider to take the online course on Accessibility. If, on the other hand, you want to go over the basics of UX and Usability, you could take the online course on User Experience. Good luck on your learning journey!
Conclusion
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