BALTIMORE (AP) - Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it
over a $20 bill.

"Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image," the phone says
in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later,
the phone
says, "Twenty dollars."

Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is
holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and
visually impaired.

The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on
photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a
bill is worth $1, $5,
$10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed,
whether it's a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.

While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software's developer
say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech
ability.

"We've had reading devices before," Danielsen said, noting similar
software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a
personal digital
assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access
Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows
the blind to
use cell phones and PDAs.

Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.'s
SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even
translate from other
languages.

However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one
smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development
for K-NFB Reading
Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between
the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.

"It is the next step, but this is a huge leap," Gashel, who is blind,
said in a telephone interview. "I'm talking to you on the device I also
use to read
things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20
seconds, be reading something I need to read in print."

Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text
into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is
only the first
step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms
and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.

The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through
K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell
phone is expected
to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.

Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis
said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that
could be used
by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.

"We don't anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we're
not quite to the release yet," said Doermann, who is also co-director of
the University
of Maryland's Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.

Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the
Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its
software ready in
the next 12 to 18 months.

Kurzweil's device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris
Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the
company has
also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more
powerful server-side computers.

"As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so
quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability,
flexibility and options
to the way you solve these type of problems," Strammiello said.

There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the
U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby
boomers age.

Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected
to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to
be among
the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each
word as it's read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which
affects
the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them
improve their reading skills, he said.

"What's new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device
that fits in their shirt pocket," Kurzweil said.

Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the
device and its PDA predecessor are a "form of hand-held vision" that
will make
the visual environment "much more readily available to the blind."

___

National Federation of the Blind: 
http://www.nfb.org

K-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: 
http://www.knfbreader.com

Kurzweil Technologies Inc.: 
http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.html

Applied Media Analysis: 
http://appliedmediaanalysis.com

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Google 

Copyright (c) 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 


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