A group of Michigan State University (MSU) engineering
students have created an audio/visual book reader for the disabled, an
innovation that is likely to hit the commercial market.
“It’s basically like a small MP3 player that reads the
text out loud, but at the same time displays the text on the screen,” says MSU
Engineering Professor Selin Aviyente.
Aviyente says her students took an existing computer
program that synchronizes text with audio and found a way to deliver the text
to the consumer through a portable device. Before the students developed the
reader, the text was only readable through a computer screen.
Now those who are disabled or have reading impairments
can download books and other text and read them in coffee shops, at libraries
or any other remote location.
The students were recognized for their efforts at MSU’s College of Engineering Design Day in December.
Corporations and other potential investors attended design day to prospect for
new technological designs.
“It gives the students first-hand experience of how it is
to work on a project as a team,” says Aviyente about the experience. “This is
the only course where they’re working on the project from the beginning to the
end.”
Source: Laura Seeley, MSU
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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