With established technology providing accessibility for the visually impaired, some of the latest mobile technology interfaces although stylish and appealing, offer only limited access to the blind. Case in point, the iPhone, with its smooth surface and sales in excess of 4.7 million units during the 3rd quarter 2008, is not exactly user friendly for the blind.
That soon may change with the invisual – a tactile silicon case for the Apple iPhone crafted by Portugal-based designer Bruno Fosi.
Fosi has created a prototype iPhone case that would help the blind make better use of the iPhone. The silicon case features a selection of modified bas-relief buttons that correspond to menu items, and is thin enough for the screen to register touch.
It works with an app store application to allow accessibility functions like text to speech and moon type tactile alphabet keyboard. Fosi says this allows the iPhone to keep functions like multi touch and finger flick scrolling intact.
While advances in digital technology and text-to-speech software over the past few years have offered the visually impaired access to communications and information like never before, the invisual may just be the solution for the blind when it comes to smart phones of the future.
Thanks: Yanko Design
