Blind inventor makes web accessible

A blind entrepreneur has developed a new device, SpeakOn, which will make internet content available to blind people without the need for computer skills.

Chris Mairs, founder of an assistive technology charity called A-Technic, has developed the SpeakOn device, which will be able to access MP3 music files, radio stations, podcasts and website content normally available only as text (such as online news papers).

Mr Mairs says he developed the device as blind people currently have to use assistive technology called a screenreader to interpret what is essentially a visual concept.

"To use a screenreader you have to understand the visual concept – what dialogue boxes are, radio buttons and the rest," he said. The SpeakOn device has instead been designed to visually impaired people who are, in Mr Mairs' words, "technologically frail".

"By this I mean the sort of person who doesn’t have the expertise to use a computer," he said. "You don't need to know that it is a computer. People would maybe consider it to be more like a radio or a tape player."

The SpeakOn will have a simple keypad with about 12 keys, each of which will be easily distinguishable. These would be used to navigate up, down and through lists.

It would work as a 'tree model' where the user browses through a list of options, and having selected a particular option, would then go through to the next level. "An example would be a directory of newspapers," Mr Mairs said.

"You find the newspaper you're interested in and then you might find the sports pages, then a match about your favourite team," he said.

But the SpeakOn is very unlikely to provide access to all internet content. Mr Mairs said that being able to render the content of so many websites in a sensible form would not be technically feasible.

The interface of the product is currently being trialled and the next phase is to develop hardware as part of the device. The finished box will require a broadband connection and the developers hope to link up with a provider that can offer a "complete support package". It's likely to cost around £300.

A spokeswoman for the Royal National Institute of the Blind said: "We welcome this effort by Chris Mairs. It sounds very interesting and we are eager to try this new technology out when it becomes widely available.

"SpeakOn should open up the online world to more people, and it seems like a very affordable alternative," she said.