Category: Innovations for Visually Impaired

Blind Community Fine-tunes Avast! Antivirus Software
for Screen-reader Capability

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, August 12, 2010 – AVAST Software, providers of the avast! antivirus program, has announced that the latest update to its antivirus application makes computer security fully accessible to the vision-impaired.  Using basic screen-reader technology, blind and low-vision computer users can now protect their computers from malware and unwanted viruses with any of the avast! Antivirus 5.0 offerings – avast! Free Antivirus, avast! Pro Antivirus and avast! Internet Security.

The push for this development came from vision-impaired IT geeks  who wanted to use avast! Antivirus 5.0.   “For the blind, the computer is an absolutely fantastic invention. And for some, it’s even their hobby to adjust it,” said Radek Seifert, work-team leader at the TEREZA Center, a support center for the sight-impaired at the Czech Technical University in Prague.

These volunteers fine-tuned avast! so it worked with  JAWS®, a leading screen-reader technology. “They said, ‘give us the beta’ so we did,” remembers Ondrej Vlcek, AVAST Chief Technical Officer. “It was also a complicated issue on our side as avast! does not use the standard Windows controls.”

Screen reader software is designed to navigate through a website and read the web content aloud. A screen reader uses a Text-To-Speech (TTS) engine to translate on-screen information into speech, which can then be heard through earphones or speakers. In addition to speech feedback, screen readers are also capable of providing information in Braille. An external hardware device, known as a refreshable Braille display, is needed for this.

“A screen reader can be complicated to adjust – there are many ways to fine-tune the program and some very small differences made in adjusting the information that needs to be read aloud,” explained Mr. Seifert.

The cooperation between the blind community  and AVAST Software is being noticed globally. “It’s great to see that a company like yours doesn’t take very long to make their programs accessible to blind or visually impaired users. I am happy to say that avast! 5.0 does now work fully with Jaws,” wrote in Michael Osmond, a blind JAWS trainer at Dalhousie University in Haifax, Canada. An avast! user since 2008, he was particularly concerned that the email filter in 5.0 would work correctly.

The computer, and screenreader technologies, is now an integral part of blind people’s lives.  “The JAWS program is so much more than a simple screen reader – it is a navigational aid,” said Eric Damery, VP Software Product Management, Freedom Scientific.  “We believe this technology truly empowers the vision-impaired and the newest antivirus program from avast! will provide peace of mind for computer users.”

ABOUT AVAST
AVAST Software protects over 100 million registered users in over 240 countries with its avast! antivirus  program. avast! Free Antivirus sets the standard as a free, full-featured computer security application that matches or exceeds the performance of other paid products. The avast! 5.0 portfolio includes Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus for customized protection, and the premium Internet Security with its no-hassle Silent Firewall. Anchored by the CommunityIQ network of sensors for reporting on-line threats and supported by multiple protective shields, avast! performance has been certified by VB100, ICSA Labs, and West Coast Labs. Available in around 30 languages, avast! provides global protection for homes and businesses that speaks your language. Be free with avast!

Original post can be found at: http://www.prlog.org/10854779-computer-protection-available-for-the-vision-impaired.html

If you live long enough, you will probably develop one. Six out of 10 people over age 60, and almost everyone over age 80 has one. Has what? A cataract. Despite this prevalence, most people don’t know the facts about cataracts until they’re “eye-to-eye” with one. Now is the time to educate yourself about the condition and breakthroughs in treatment. (continue reading…)

By Denise DeWitt

A new product just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is offering new hope to elderly patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The implantable, miniature telescope is considered breakthrough technology to help offset the effects of AMD, which results in functional vision loss and is the leading cause of blindness in older Americans.

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As reported by Medical News Today, UC Irvine scientists have created an eight-layer, early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells. It also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that affect millions.

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MIAMI (AFP) – A 60-year-old US grandmother, blind for nearly a decade, has recovered her sight after surgeons implanted a tooth in her eye as a base to hold a tiny plastic lens, her doctors said Wednesday. (continue reading…)

Bristol/Hong Kong-based Ocean Blue Software, a specialist digital TV software house, has developed “talking” digital TV technology for set top boxes and televisions that could potentially benefit millions of people who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, severely dyslexic, and elderly.

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For people who are blind or visually impaired, orientation in unknown environments is a special challenge. A navigation system, however, can help to support orientation skills. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart are drawing information together for blind and visually impaired students that can be accessed with a precise mobile navigation device. (continue reading…)

Raised domes alert blind people they’ve reached end of sidewalk Pedestrian walkways in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area are becoming more accessible for people with visual impairments.

Pedestrian walkways in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area are becoming more accessible for people with visual impairments.

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*New! A crisper High Definition image

*New! Freeze frame with adjustable size and contrast

*New! Improved Battery Life (up to 2-hours)

*New! Also available in black

*Lightweight and Portable (only 1.3 lbs)

*3.5x to 14x adjustable magnification

*Large 6.5″ anti-glare LCD screen (tilts for comfortable viewing)

*Large field of view (see more of reading area)

*6 viewing modes to optimize contrast and brightness

*Connects with any TV for increased magnification

*Writing stand and carrying case included

*2 year warranty

Neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita hypothesized in the 1960s that “we see with our brains not our eyes.” Now, a new device trades on that thinking and aims to partially restore the experience of vision for the blind and visually impaired by relying on the nerves on the tongue’s surface to send light signals to the brain. (continue reading…)