Very excited to see more people working on accessible applications!
How is this different from TextDetective, or other OCR apps for the blind?
Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
11–20 of 28 posts
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#12Why choose this over audio-books and advanced TTS software? As qrazhan noted, it's very difficult (unnecessarily so) to use in the first place. (ie. electronics are already the way to go, why would you care about print versions vs. digital versions if you're blind? they all sound the same). I wonder, is this something you yourself use? Are you blind? In which case, I'm sure you're aware that this is not how assistive…
Can you give an example of the TTS software you consider advanced? The software I tried works, but too often sounds robotic and far from natural. Especially for the Dutch language.
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#13I'm happy there are developers out there that understand there are blind people out there who have a hard time using things we take for granted. This is a great approach to solving real problems that affect people. Kudos Shalin.
A personal opinion, these are the kind of ideas that should get backed by Venture Capitalists as compared to the "Yo" application.
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#14People looking for audio access to textbooks and other printed materials should check out
They're a non-profit that provides volunteer-read mp3s of text books and other popular reading materials. Last I checked, they received a government grant that let them give away memberships to blind/dyslexic students.
I used to read for them - knowing thousands of people have used the thousands of pages I read to learn is really satisfying.
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#15Why choose this over audio-books and advanced TTS software? As qrazhan noted, it's very difficult (unnecessarily so) to use in the first place. (ie. electronics are already the way to go, why would you care about print versions vs. digital versions if you're blind? they all sound the same). I wonder, is this something you yourself use? Are you blind? In which case, I'm sure you're aware that this is not how assistive…
I don't think it's strictly for books.
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#16Awesome project Shalin, great to see you using your coding powers to tackle serious problems!
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#17Why choose this over audio-books and advanced TTS software? As qrazhan noted, it's very difficult (unnecessarily so) to use in the first place. (ie. electronics are already the way to go, why would you care about print versions vs. digital versions if you're blind? they all sound the same). I wonder, is this something you yourself use? Are you blind? In which case, I'm sure you're aware that this is not how assistive…
Can you give an example of the TTS software you consider advanced? The software I tried works, but too often sounds robotic and far from natural. Especially for the Dutch language.
ClaroRead and Jaws are popular. We're talking about high priced software actually built for people with disabilities. Not using Balabolka to speed things up because someone is too lazy to read. (I do it all the time.)
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#18When I first opened the site there the main graphic loaded really slowly. Its a 2.1 MB PNG; you may want to change it to JPEG since it'll be way smaller and look just the same (especially since its a photo to begin with).
http://www.shalinshah.me/voice/images/bg2.png
Edit: I made a 60% JPEG from this PNG that weighs in at 281KB if you want to use it:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/okqij5hiubw08sz/bg2.jpg
Also somewhat weird that "Get this app" isn't centered like the rest of the content.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/80piftabnf57jwt/Screenshot%202014-...
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#19Why choose this over audio-books and advanced TTS software? As qrazhan noted, it's very difficult (unnecessarily so) to use in the first place. (ie. electronics are already the way to go, why would you care about print versions vs. digital versions if you're blind? they all sound the same). I wonder, is this something you yourself use? Are you blind? In which case, I'm sure you're aware that this is not how assistive…
I don't think it's strictly for books.
Read carefully.
Re: Show HN: Voice - An iOS App that lets blind people read
#20Why choose this over audio-books and advanced TTS software? As qrazhan noted, it's very difficult (unnecessarily so) to use in the first place. (ie. electronics are already the way to go, why would you care about print versions vs. digital versions if you're blind? they all sound the same). I wonder, is this something you yourself use? Are you blind? In which case, I'm sure you're aware that this is not how assistive…
Not everything is available digitally--mail, for instance. Sure, given the choice, I'd choose an existing digital book over one I scan myself, but I can't for instance choose a digital version of the medical bills the hospital mails me.
That said, this isn't an entirely unique concept, and you're right, positioning the camera is challenging. There are tools to help with this--arms and stands that position devices at the correct height to photograph a standard-sized sheet of paper. It may strike you as entirely impractical, but I remember the days when scanners were huge and bulky things, and even now when they aren't, I don't necessarily have the desk space to keep one out, or the desire to hook it up and store it when not in use. A reliable camera-based OCR solution for my Android phone and an arm/paper guide calibrated to the S III would rock, and assuming reasonable material prices and standard markup (I.e. not the absolutely huge markups of AT) it'd be competitive with dedicated OCR solutions and hardware.
Source: I'm blind.