This is an article from wired.com about talking medicine labels being
pilot tested here in Chicago.  I have included the article below.
The direct url is:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41501,00.html?tw=wn20010130

Steve

   Some Drugs Make You Hear Them
   Associated Press
   8:15 a.m. Jan. 30, 2001 PST
   
   WASHINGTON -- The man squints at his medication, but his dimming
   vision can't make out whether he picked up the Coumadin or Celebrex.
   So he aims a gadget the size of a deck of cards at the bottle, and a
   computerized voice begins reading his prescription instructions.
   
   Call them talking drugs: If pilot testing goes well at two Chicago
   hospitals, blind and elderly Americans could soon begin buying
   prescriptions with "smart labels" that read aloud the potentially
   lifesaving fine print.
   ----------

   Millions of Americans have eyesight so bad they can't read newspaper
   type, and thus struggle with medication bottles that put the drug's
   name, dosage and important safety warnings in even smaller print.
   
   It's a problem that's only going to worsen as the aging population
   booms.
   
   Inability to read pill bottles can lead to very dangerous mistakes,
   such as taking the wrong pill at the wrong time, or taking the wrong
   dose. Or missing the warning not to drink alcohol or not to take
   various over-the-counter drugs with the prescription. Or even when to
   call a doctor about side effects.
   
   Enter ScripTalk. Beam a small voice synthesizer at a prescription
   bottle with a special computer chip embedded into the label. The
   wireless technology translates the printed label into speech,
   literally reading aloud the pill instructions.
   
   Manufacturer En-Vision America Inc. of Normal, Ill., hopes to begin
   selling ScripTalk this summer. First, vision-impaired veterans at
   Chicago's Hines Veterans Administration Hospital are pilot-testing the
   gadget to learn how helpful it truly is and nearby
   Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center soon begins a separate
   study to see if ScripTalk could reduce medication errors.
   
   "When you're vision-impaired ... it's very difficult to find the
   necessary information" to use a drug properly, explains Rush
   pharmacist Bruce Gaynes.
   
   "Our major goal, and what these systems would allow, is greater
   independence," adds Jerry Schutter, chief of blind rehabilitation
   services at Hines.
   
   Hines so far has taught a dozen veterans to use ScripTalk at home.
   Some "are very happy with it," Schutter said. Others, usually the very
   elderly, still prefer family members to read their pill bottles to
   them.
   
   The pilot test isn't over yet, but will help determine if ScripTalk
   provides enough benefit for the VA to offer it once sales begin.
   
   ScripTalk isn't the only such attempt: Hines also has a handful of
   veterans testing New York-based Asko Corp.'s Aloud, where pharmacists
   record drug labels into listening devices for patients. ScripTalk, in
   contrast, harnesses wireless technology to let computers synthesize
   the talking label automatically.
   
   Rush's planned 300-patient study, which also will investigate low-tech
   solutions such as larger-print drug labels, will examine whether
   ScripTalk reduces medication errors, thus saving money as well as
   preventing injury. That study could help insurers and pharmacists
   decide whether to pay for the device.
   
   ScripTalk won't be cheap, Schutter cautions. En-Vision would send
   participating drugstores blank, microchip-embedded "smart labels."
   Each drugstore would have to buy a special $1,000 printer that encodes
   the microchip to read each label once it's printed.
   
   Patients would buy a battery-operated ScripTalk reader, for about
   $250, that works on any smart-labeled pill bottle. A talking label
   initially should add $1 to each prescription, a price that would drop
   as more were sold, En-Vision says.
   
   At Hines, pharmacists had to write special software so the ScripTalk
   printer could read the VA's patient prescription records, a link
   retail pharmacies may have to figure out, too.
   
   But En-Vision, which has begun pitching ScripTalk to drugstore chains
   and insurers, says don't forget one big benefit: Not every drugstore
   will sell talking prescriptions, so those that do could gain instant
   loyal clientele among the millions of vision-impaired patients.
   
   Not to mention the technology could be modified to help people who
   can't read prescription labels for other reasons, such as illiteracy
   or language barriers.
   
   Copyright © 2001 Associated Press
   


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html