A new app called the KNFB Reader has been developed to help blind people see again by having them listen to an audio readback of printed text.
The app was created by the National Federation of the Blind and Ray Kurzweil, an artificial-intelligence scientist and senior Google employee, who have been working with each other for four decades, according to Reuters. The app's technology was developed by K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. and Belgium-based company, Sensotec NV.
Users are able to adjust and tilt the camera, thanks to the KNFB Reader's pattern recognition and image-processing features, along with new smartphone hardware. Another feature is the app's ability to read printed materials out loud.
Chris Danielsen, spokesman for NFB, said the app also lets people with refreshable Braille displays take photos of print documents and instantly display them in Braille, Reuters reported.
The KNFB Reader has thus far received a great deal of positive reviews from those who have used it, such as New Zealand assistive technology consultant Jonathan Mosen, who has been blind since he was born. He was able to use the app to listen to audio of printed words taken on photos within seconds.
"I couldn't believe how accurate it was," Mosen said.
Gordon Luke was one of the many users who shared the success they were experiencing with the app on Twitter and other social media sites on Thursday and Friday. Luke tweeted that he can now read his polling card from the Scottish Referendum.
Kurzweil said in an interview that the $99 app will be available for Android devices in the next few months, and that there is a possibility that it will eventually be made for Google Glass, Reuters reported.
"Google Glass makes sense because you direct the camera with your head," he said.
Kurzweil's app also received praise from San Francisco's Bryan Bashin, executive director of the non-profit Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, who said the app shows the good that technology is capable of.
"There are innumerable times in life that I'll have a bit of print and there will be nobody around who can help me out, and I'll just want to know something as simple as 'Is this packet decaf or caffeinated coffee?'" Bashin said.
"The ability to do this easily with something that fits in your pocket at lightning speed will certainly be a game changer."
