These programs can read each character you type, read just one word at a time as you type or they can be totally silent. They can also speak what you type on the keyboard so you’ll know if you’ve made any mistakes. OK, so these screen readers read what appears on the screen? Is that all they do?Ī. I think we’re closer to voices sounding more like Hal from “2001: A Space Odyssey” rather than the robots from science fiction shows from the 1960’s. Actually, most of the synthetic voices used today are very pleasant and some of them sound remarkably human. Does the voice sound like a robot, like the one from “Lost in Space?”Ī. A screen reader does just what its name implies: it reads what is on the screen using artificial speech and the voice is heard from the computer’s speakers.
There are several ways in which this is done.įirst, you need a program on your computer known as a screen reader. OK, so how *does* a blind person use a computer, anyway?Ī.
If your question isn’t answered, feel free to email me and I’ll add it to this page. I’d like to answer some general questions I often receive from people who want to know how such a thing is possible. If you’re curious about this topic, this page was written for you. Some people are curious but are a bit nervous about asking the question. When I tell them that I test software, many of them are understandably curious and ask questions about how a blind person could use a computer, smartphone or tablet. There are also some keyboards available with large print or braille directly on the keys.Throughout my day, both at work as well as going to and from work, a lot of people ask me about the type of work that I do. For blind or low vision people who haven't memorized the keyboard, there are large print and braille stickers that can be placed on the keys. Blind people can also feel the grooves on the F and J keys to ensure correct placement. Most sighted people can look at the screen and don't need to look at the keyboard because their fingers know where the keys are. This aids them in being able to have more options for interface. Many blind or deaf-blind people use a combination of the three above mentioned adaptive technologies, such as speech and braille side by side, or braille and magnification. Unlike speech readers, braille users always have access to punctuation whereas speech reader users have to change their settings to be able to hear all punctuation. Like speech output, a braille output user cannot see images or any sort of image-based output. The pins in a braille display move up and down into braille patterns and change as the screen changes or as the blind person interacts with the computer.
Braille output uses the same software as speech output, but rather than being read in a synthetic voice, the text on the screen is displayed on an attached hardware device with braille cells, called a refreshable braille display. Braille technology is extremely expensive so it's generally only used by those who really need it, such as deaf-blind people with not enough hearing to understand speech output and blind people who have jobs that require using the phone at the same time or looking closely at coding or punctuation. Special programming (called alt-text) can allow computer users to add descriptions to photos, but unless this is specifically done, most images are simply read as "image" or the file name the image was saved as.ĭeaf-blind and some blind people use braille output.
Blind users with speech output can't see photos, and can't read documents that are image-based, such as scanned-in PDF files or websites that are formatted in image-based formats. Speech readers have limitations in what they can interpret.
While many people have a hard time understanding synthetic speech, most blind people are used to it and can understand it fine. Text-to-speech is a software that converts text on the screen into a computerized voice. Blind people using magnification may or may not be able to see pictures and other graphics (such as smilies). These programs often also have options for increasing contrast, inverting colors, or changing to other color layouts that make it easier for the person to see. Magnification means a certain software program on the computer magnifies everything on the screen to be large enough for the person to see. How do blind and deaf-blind people use computers?ĭepending on the extent of vision loss, blind people might either use magnification or text-to-speech.