Innovations for Visually Impaired

MIAMI (AFP) – A 60-year-old US grandmother, blind for nearly a decade, has recovered her sight after surgeons implanted a tooth in her eye as a base to hold a tiny plastic lens, her doctors said Wednesday.

Bristol/Hong Kong-based Ocean Blue Software, a specialist digital TV software house, has developed “talking” digital TV technology for set top boxes and televisions that could potentially benefit millions of people who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, severely dyslexic, and elderly.

For people who are blind or visually impaired, orientation in unknown environments is a special challenge. A navigation system, however, can help to support orientation skills. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart are drawing information together for blind and visually impaired students that can be accessed with a precise mobile navigation device.

Raised domes alert blind people they’ve reached end of sidewalk Pedestrian walkways in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area are becoming more accessible for people with visual impairments. Pedestrian walkways in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area are becoming more accessible for people with visual impairments.

*New! A crisper High Definition image *New! Freeze frame with adjustable size and contrast *New! Improved Battery Life (up to 2-hours) *New! Also available in black *Lightweight and Portable (only 1.3 lbs) *3.5x to 14x adjustable magnification *Large 6.5″ anti-glare LCD screen (tilts for comfortable viewing) *Large field of view (see more of reading area) […]

Neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita hypothesized in the 1960s that “we see with our brains not our eyes.” Now, a new device trades on that thinking and aims to partially restore the experience of vision for the blind and visually impaired by relying on the nerves on the tongue’s surface to send light signals to the brain.

MVP Kenny Johar was recently awarded the Microsoft MVP Award, for his contributions towards Internet Explorer. He has carved out a successful IT career by helping to make technology, more accessible to Australia’s visually impaired. News of his Award, was also picked up by The Australian newspaper and you can read an excerpt of the […]

BLACKSBURG, Va., July 15, 2009 — A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible: The opportunity to drive. A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind Driver Challenge team from Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory uses laser range finders, an […]

When Martin Jones met his wife four years ago, he never imagined that one day he would get to see what she looked like. The 42-year-old builder was left blind after an accident at work more than a decade ago. But a remarkable operation – which implants part of his tooth in his eye –  […]

Pebble’s small lightweight design makes it the perfect companion whether you’re travelling or at home. Easily read labels, prescriptions, price tags, menus, bus schedules and so much more with this ultra-portable video magnifier. Carry Pebble in your pocket, purse or strap it onto your belt, the only time you’ll know it’s there is when you […]