Modern Technology Used for a Blind Person

The world can be a difficult place to wander when you have a hard time seeing it. For a long time, seeing eye dogs have been invaluable to those with vision impairments or complete blindness. While seeing eye dogs are still a great help, the increase in technology is showing some positive results, and many new inventions every day are starting to show just how much modern technology can assist those with vision difficulties.

Basics

• Since the turn of the century, there have been many incredible breakthroughs with many kinds of technology, but many of the technologies that assist those with vision impairments are among the most impressive. For the partly blind or those who may be legally blind in one eye, new inventions are on the market that allow many issues to be corrected with ease, such as glasses with special telescopic lenses. For those who are completely blind, there is a variety of technology available to assist in everything from shopping to operating the public transport systems.

Specific Technologies

• There are many individual technologies already on the market available to those with vision problems, designed for those with different needs. For example, the KnfbReader Mobile, as noted on wsj.com, is a cell phone and camera, one that allows users to take photos of text and it reads it back. Other devices assist with magnifying books and other texts with great clarity, and there are even contact lenses that can be custom made to fit the individual's needs.

  For those who can't see at all, new inventions are taking advantage of satellite and wireless technology. A few adaptations of GPS technology allow accurate measurements within a few meters, allowing safe city travel. Similarly, a new adaptation of the walking stick, dubbed the Smart Cane, calculates objects all around up to a few meters away, and can wirelessly connect to passing buses to check for route numbers.

Additional Assistance

• Many organizations are beginning to use satellite technology to assist the blind, especially in places like cities and other crowded areas where signals may otherwise be blocked. Some experimental technologies include a mixture of GPS satellites, various in-city receivers and the Internet to provide real time and accurate location data. The technology came about after reception issues influenced by tall buildings and other obstacles. This refined accuracy allows much safer travel. There are also much simpler technologies in use, such as audible intersection crossing devices that use sounds to signal when it is safe to cross.

Future Technology

• Designs for future products to help the blind seem even more accessible and unobtrusive than ever before. Some current prospects involve a small, remote-sized wand that scans the surrounding areas for obstacles and warns the holder about them, as seen on tuvie.com. Another invention in the works displayed on news.bbc.co.uk shows a new technology that allows the visually impaired to use text messaging by way of reading texts that are sent and received over a separate device.

Considerations

• The current burst of development has allowed technology to become smaller, more accessible and more affordable than at any other point in history. However, much of the technology being used is rather new, and much more is currently under experimentation. Many factors go into price, including availability, how new the product is, the demand, and how successful it is. While modern technology is certainly assisting the blind in many new ways, it is not available to everyone, and in some cases may be unobtainable, or not work correctly.