A pretty useful smartphone tool dubbed the BrailleTouch iPhone app was recently unveiled by researchers from Georgia Tech. This application has been created specially for the visually impaired so that they can operate handsets with touchscreen displays in a convenient manner.

BrailleTouch is a free, open-source app which is integrated with the Braille writing system employed by the visually impaired. This software may even benefit users with normal or poor eyesight as it could serve as a universal eyes-free mobile texting app in place of soft QWERTY keyboards and various other input methods for texting or mailing.

“Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them. BrailleTouch is an out-of-the-box solution that will work with smartphones and tablets and allow users to start learning the Braille alphabet in a few minutes. It also reduces the need for expensive proprietary Braille keyboard devices, which typically cost thousands of dollars,” stated Mario Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Interactive Computing (IC) and the project’s principal investigator.

This app has been developed in order to offer a solution to the limitations of texting methods such as soft keyboards that don’t deliver tactile feedback or actual keypads which often consist of several tiny, fixed keys.

The iPhone application employs a six-finger chording process that is similar in function to the traditional Braille keyboard. Users may be able to hit out up to 32 words within a minute at almost 92 percent precision.

The Georgia Tech researchers are currently working on an Android version of the BrailleTouch iPhone app which is now being showcased at the Abilities Expo-Atlanta 2012 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Source -[ mobiletor.com ]