Optophone

{{Short description|Device used by the blind}} thumb|250px|Detail view of the optophone The '''optophone''' is a device, used by people who are blind, that scans text and generates time-varying chords of tones to identify letters. It is one of the earliest known applications of sonification. Dr. Edmund Fournier d'Albe of Birmingham University invented the optophone in 1913,<ref>{{cite journal|last=d'Albe|first=E. E. F.|title=On a Type-Reading Optophone|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|date=1 July 1914|volume=90|issue=619|pages=373–375|doi=10.1098/rspa.1914.0061|bibcode=1914RSPSA..90..373D|doi-access=free}}</ref> which used selenium photosensors to detect black print and convert it into an audible output which could be interpreted by a blind person. The Glasgow company, Barr and Stroud, participated in improving the resolution and usability of the instrument.<ref name = "Fournier1920">{{Citation |title = The Type-Reading Optophone |first = E. E. Fournier |last = d'Albe |journal = Scientific American |pages = 109–110 |date = October 1920 |url = http://statisfactions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/opto1920.pdf |access-date = 2011-12-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120426010820/http://statisfactions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/opto1920.pdf |archive-date = 2012-04-26 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

Only a few units were built and reading was initially exceedingly slow; a demonstration at the 1918 Exhibition involved Mary Jameson reading at one word per minute.<ref>{{Citation| title=The Optophone: Its Beginning and Development| author=Jameson, M.| journal=Bulletin of Prosthetics Research| pages=25–28| year=1966| url=http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/66/3/1/25.pdf| access-date=2011-12-01| archive-date=2024-01-30| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130210632/https://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/66/3/1/25.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref> Later models of the Optophone allowed speeds of up to 60 words per minute, though only some subjects are able to achieve this rate.<ref>{{Citation | title=An audio display for the blind| author=Fish, R.M.| journal=IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering| volume=23| issue=2| pages=144–154| year=1976| publisher=IEEE |doi=10.1109/tbme.1976.324576| pmid=1248840}}</ref>

thumb|250px|Tone generating method of the FM-SLIT reading machine (above), and Frequency-time plot of its output (below). ==See also== * Optacon

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * {{Cite EB1922 |last=d'Albe |first=Edmund Edward Fournier |wstitle=Optophone|short=x}} * Mills, Mara. [https://soundstudiesblog.com/2015/01/05/optophones-and-musical-print/ "Optophones and Musical Print."] Sounding Out! (2015)

Category:Blindness equipment Category:Auditory displays