Now “Sight” For Blinds through New Smartphone App

A new computer programs have been getting lots accolades as it has been able to give life changing sight experience to the blind people. This new program has been named as KNFB Reader app. Through this app the user will be able to listen to an audio read-back of the printed materials. As per the blind people they life will become much easier with this app. It will have a contribution from reading the menus to study text, etc.

Jonathan Mosen, who has been blind from birth, is now able to spend his evening snapping photos of his son’s report card, mail, books and magazines. Within seconds he was able to hear the audio of the printed word that was captured by the camera. This is due to the new app available on Apple Inc iPhone.

Mosen, who is an assistive technology consultant from New Zealand couldn’t believe the accuracy given by the app. This application has been able to receive rave reviews since the first day it was made available and has been tagged as the life-changer for them. According to blind people KNFB Reader app will be able to provide them a completely new level of engagement in their life.

This app has been currently priced at $99, but it's the outcome of the hard work put forth by Ray Kurzweil, who is a well-known artificial-intelligence scientist and senior Google employee and National Federation of the Blind.

This team has a 4 decade long relationship. As per their website, the technical development of this app is due to the Sensotec NV, a Belgium-based company and K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. Kurzweil not only demonstrated the app usage but also stated that it can very much replace the sighted advisors.

How the app works? 

This app takes the advantage of the image processing and pattern recognition technology as well as the latest smart phone hardware and allows its user to use the camera and it will read the printed material. People who have the refreshable Braille display will be able to take the picture of the documents and gets the same displayed in Braille.

Users of this app have given positive reviews about the new app. Among all the reviews one of the first users Gordon Luke stated that he used to this app to read the information to Scottish Referendum polling.

According to Kurzweil Android users should be expecting this app on the platform as well and they might try out this app for Google glass as well. For them it makes more sense as one will be able to direct the camera with their head.

The KNFB Reader app has been released at a time when there is serious crisis in the technology industry. At the moments critics are worried that most of the companies are involved in developing software programs for adding additional features in gaming, video and photos but failing to address some of the serious issues which have been covered through this new app.

There are people who feel that there was time when they really needed a app like KNPB but now that they have got what they wanted, it will only have a positive impact on the industry.