World Book Day丨"Digital Reading" allows visually impaired readers to feel the "fragrance of books"

Chongqing, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- "Don't look at it as just a small dot displayer, but there are thousands of books such as "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which I can read anytime and anywhere. In the Mingyue Lake International Intelligent Industry Science and Technology Innovation Base in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, blind Li Yong (pseudonym) is enjoying reading time through Braille e-books.

Braille point display, audio column, audio reading room...... In order to meet the growing reading needs of visually impaired readers, in recent years, Chongqing has been exploring the use of digital technology to improve the reading experience of blind people. Today, in Chongqing, "digital reading" is helping more visually impaired people to achieve barrier-free reading with the help of ears, hearing and touch, so that they can feel the "fragrance of books".

A blind person is reading using a Braille dot display. Photo by Xinhuanet Chen Yu

Braille Point Display: A portable Braille "library"

Li Cheng, a Braille point display developer, is a fourth-year student at Chongqing University. In a summer social practice, Li Cheng found that a book of "Travels to the Center of the Earth" read by ordinary people is only 142 pages, and the price is only a few tens of yuan, while "Journey to the Center of the Earth" after being made into a braille book is three thick books, and the price requires a few hundred yuan. "At that time, I thought, can we make an e-book so that visually impaired people can read whatever book they want?" Li Cheng recalled. After that, Li Cheng began to form a team and began to develop Braille point displays.

In the early stage of research and development, Li Cheng and his team went to Chongqing Special Education School for research, and accompanied the visually impaired children there for many days to understand their desire to read and the difficulties they faced.

Design, production, improvement...... With the joint efforts of all team members, it took only three months for the first version of the Braille dot display to be successfully released. The dot display is shaped like a tablet without a screen, with rows of braille characters on it, which can not only read existing braille e-books, but also convert a large number of books into braille through software transcoding.

Li Cheng tells the story of the research and development of Braille dot display. Xinhuanet (photo by Shi Liuliu)

After the first finished product was produced, Li Cheng sent it to a blind couple he knew for trial, and the other party gave evaluations and suggestions after a period of trial. "The good thing is that it is convenient, there are many books to read in the dot display, but there are still many details that have not been done well. For example, in Braille reading, the spacing between the two 'dots' that make up Braille should be within 2.5mm, so as to achieve the best reading experience, but the spacing of the 'dots' of this dot display is 3mm. The couple said.

After getting the feedback, Li Cheng and his team members began to iteratively upgrade the product. After more than a year of hard work, in February 2024, the team finally came up with a second new version of the Braille point display sample. In order to solve the problems of bulky appearance, narrow application scenarios, and high production costs of braille point displays, this point display has gone through a total of 9 iterations and 6 user tests.

"This dot display is very small and has a lot of books in it, like a portable library. In the past, when reading Braille paper books, the dots on the book would become more and more blurry after a long time, and now I don't have to worry about this problem anymore. The blind man Li Yong said.

Li Cheng introduced that this point display is expected to be introduced to the market in the second half of 2024. In the future, he hopes that it can help more blind people read and see a wider world in books.

In the visually impaired reading room of Chongqing Library, a blind man is listening to a book. Xinhua Net (data map)

Reading with sound Feel the "light" of reading with sound

In the Chongqing Library, blind Li Wenrong walked along the blind road into the visually impaired reading room in the library. After sitting down, she picked up the headphones in front of the computer and began to listen to the audiobook.

In order to allow blind people to enjoy the sea of books and share the fragrance of books like ordinary readers, in 2007, Chongqing Library opened a reading room for the visually impaired. At present, there are more than 17,000 Braille books and more than 6,100 Braille audiobooks in this reading room. "We are equipped with smart readers, multi-functional digital visual aids and other equipment in this reading room, so that the visually impaired can enjoy reading and understand the world through voice reading and other methods." The person in charge of the reading room said.

When Liu Wei, a 31-year-old second-level visual disabled person, came to the Chongqing Library for the first time, he was deeply attracted by the various advanced barrier-free reading facilities inside. "I heard that the library also has a braille printer that can print the text materials we need, and I want to try it next time." Liu Wei said.

In addition to the Chongqing Library, libraries in many districts and counties in Chongqing have also set up reading rooms for the visually impaired. In order to let more visually impaired people feel the "fragrance of books", in 2022, the Chongqing Disabled Persons' Federation launched the "Read with Sound" Internet audio column for the disabled through the WeChat public account of the "Chongqing Disabled Persons' Federation" and the "Himalaya" platform, and has released 5 albums and nearly 80 programs. Disabled anchors can share good articles on growth inspirational, literary masterpieces, and red classics here, and use warm words to bring every disabled person to a wider world.

Yu Fujun, who has a first-degree visual disability, runs a massage parlor for the blind. "I've always loved reading. Reading not only allows me to understand the outside world, but also allows me to apply the medical knowledge I have heard to massage work and improve my craft. Yu Fujun said that in the future, he wants to listen to more books to make his life more enjoyable.

Nowadays, in Chongqing, with the popularization of "digital reading", more visually impaired people like Yu Fujun have achieved barrier-free reading. "Digital technology has opened a window for us, making up for our lack of vision and helping us integrate into society and enjoy life more freely." Yu Fujun said.