Wearable Braille Reader

Abstract

In the 21st century, as the idea of supporting people with disabilities becomes more widespread in society, Braille is becoming more and more widely used, especially in public facilities. It is, however, inferred that about 90% of visually impaired people in Japan cannot read Braille. If some devices help them to read Braille easily, the device will improve their quality of life. We are developing a new wearable device that enables visually impaired people to read Braille with their fingers. Users of this device attach a pressure sensor to their fingertips. Users trace the Braille text with the sensor, the system reads out the translated texts with a voice. Unfortunately, the sensor is not small enough to attach to fingertips in our current system. We report on the current state of wearable Braille reader.