IBM to launch web browser for visually impaired

IBM is to launch a multimedia browser that makes audio and video content accessible to people with visual impairments.

The Accessability – or A – browser aims to give blind and partially sited people the same control that sighted people have over media content. It uses predefined shortcut keys, rather than having to look for the control buttons using a mouse.

Using this software, people can also slow down video and add audio description or narration tracks which are traditionally used to make films and television programmes more comprehensible to people with visual impairments.

The volume controls also allow the user to adjust the sound of various sources independently - for example the main audio track, an audio description track and output - from a screen reader.

The browser was created by Chieko Asakawa, a blind IBM employee in Japan, who was frustrated by limitations of traditional screen readers and talking browsers for the visually impaired because these cannot deal with video or animation.

The browser software which is currently being developed for Windows Media Player and Real Player is to be launched later on in the year. IBM has not yet disclosed a price for the software but it hopes to be able to offer it free of charge.