MIT Develops Finger Reader - A Smart Audio Book Reader For The Visually Impaired

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a novel device that will help the visually impaired to easily read books. Known as the Finger Reader, this amazing gadget will not only help the people with low vision read through texts in a hassle-free way, but also guide them by providing instant feedback via tactile sensations.

According to World Health Organization there are about 285 million people worldwide who have impaired vision. It is estimated that 39 million are blind and 246 million have a low vision. Reading becomes easy for people with visual impairments by pointing their index finger at a text. Keeping this idea in perspective, the MIT scientists designed the Finger Reader which is to be worn by the users on their index finger so that they can read newspapers, magazines, books, computer screens, etc. While reading, the users can vary their speed and they can also come to know when they stray from particular line of a text.


Finger Reader is a proof of concept prototype which is produced by a 3-D printer that fits like a ring on index finger and houses a diminutive camera for scanning the text. It also boasts of a few haptic actuators for receiving feedback. The special software traces the finger movement and processes the data after identifying the words of the printed text. Vibration motors alert the readers when the users veer off the line of the text.


According to the researchers their technology is different from other technologies because other technologies scan and process the required script before they can read aloud. Whereas the Finger Reader gives the real time feedback like staying in the line, start and end of text, etc. as the device maintains its connection with the finger. The device will not replace Braille (the form of written language for the blind in which the raised dots form words are intercepted by the touch of fingertips). Instead, the device will be used as alternative for the materials which are not written in Braille.

The researchers want to make the device more reliable, smaller, and faster and also explore its applications so that it can support not only the people with visual impairments but also elder persons, children and language learners.