Hi Anthony,
I heartily agree with your thoughts that a talking component should 
encorporated into each instrument.

I have a Nokia 6620 cell phone that talks with a tiny card inside.

Such should be encorporated into ham gear.

Alternatively, we need some sort of system to read displays in real time.

When rigs had led's I was able to read frequencies etc with an Optacon and a 
calculator lens.

Eric
KU3I