Introduction I feel a bit strange about giving a review for hearing aids when I do not actually have a hearing impairment. This is about my wife’s hearing aids. But since I am my family’s CTSO (Chief Tech Support Officer), I do have a perspective on anything tech in the household. And modern-day hearing aids […]
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Tunity app review REVISITED – by Terry Austin
Hello Castaways! Terry Austin here with a review of a really cool app. Actually, we’re revisiting an app that Allison originally discovered and reviewed way back in the summer of 2016. Let’s start with our problem to be solved, and it’s way more common than many are willing to admit. TV volume! This may well […]
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Successfully Teaching Accessibility Tricks
A while ago a friend of mine contacted me because his father-in-law, Rich, had recently had a very sudden loss of vision. He knew that I dabbled in accessibility and wondered if I could help Rich get jump-started on what he could do to improve his situation. I have to admit that I was a […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: American Printing House Accessible Calculator
Allison interviews Ken Perry from American Printing House for the Blind about their new accessible calculators. APH makes the Orion TI-30XS MultiView Talking Scientific Calculator and the Orion TI-84 Plus Talking Graphing Calculator, both based on the familiar TI calculator designs. Both calculators announce each key in clear, high-quality speech, giving access to all menus, […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: Aira Visual Interpreter for The Blind
Allison interviews Michael Hingson from Aira about their visual interpreter system that helps people without vision. Aira consists of smart glasses with a camera, an app on an iPhone and a MiFi connection to provide good WiFi capability. The app is used to call specially trained agents who can see what the user “sees” through […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: eSight 3 Low Vision Glasses
Allison interviews Frank Jones and Yvonne Felix from eSight about their new eSight 3 glasses composed of a wearable headmounted display and camera system that allows people with certain types of low vision to see better. The camera processes imagery, enhances it and displays the image on the inside of the glasses in a manner […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: BrainPort Visualization Through the Tongue
Allison interviews Meesa Maeng from BrainPort about their extremely innovative V100 system that allows the user to “see” using their tongue. The V100 uses a sensory substitution device that allows the blind to use their tongue to feel the object they are looking at. The scene is captured by a special set of glasses with […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: Tobii Dynavox Speech Generating Devices
Allison interviews Ellen Witham from Tobii Dynavox about their tools to help people with speech and language impairment. The first tool is the Compass software iPad app that works in conjunction with written material to help the user learn and speak their first 12 words. Tobii Dynavox also provides a ruggedized tablet with similar functionality […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: Tap Systems Wearable Keyboard
Allison interviews Trevor Settles from Tap Systems about their innovative wearable keyboard. Tap is a bluetooth, one-handed “keyboard” that allows the user to type out characters on any surface with combinations of finger/thumb presses on the surface. Tap works with any bluetooth enabled desktop or mobile OS that supports the HID Keyboard Standard. This includes […]
Continue readingCSUN 2017: Second Sight Argus II Prosthetic Eye
Allison interviews Duane Tsutsui and Terry Byland from Second Sight about their new Argus II prosthetic eye system. Argus II provides artificial vision for those with who have lost vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa and requires the user to have functional photoreceptors and optic nerve. The Argus II system is composed of 1) a visual […]
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