KNFB Reader: life-changing technology

Consumer technology can be an intriguing passion. CNET's editors are exposed to a wide variety of gadgets, from commonplace products like TVs and laptops, to the unusual lifestyle accessories, like vibrating gaming chairs and mobile phone condoms. However, every so often we discover something life changing.

The KNFB (Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind) Reading software falls into this latter category for the people with vision impairments it services. From the anecdotal reports we've heard, the software has offered some people suffering total blindness with their first experience of autonomy in everyday situations like ordering food off the menu in a restaurant, or by reading their bills without assistance.

The software uses technology known as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to decipher printed words and uses text-to-speech synthesis to speak what it reads back to the user. The software is capable of reading across a full page of text as well as down columns of print, such as in a newspaper or magazine. Because of the intelligence of the OCR technology, the software can read print even if it is aligned at an angle to the camera.

OCR and reading software for computers are not new technologies, software of this kind has been developed since the late 1970s. In 2005 the partnership between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind produced the first portable reading device, which then was the size of a large PDA.

Today the software has been modified further and is now available on Nokia's N82 mobile phone handset. People with vision impairments can use the phone to make calls and send messages as per usual, and also have access to this amazing software without having to carry an extra larger device. As you can see in the video above, we've had a chance to test the KNFB reader software and were amazed at the accuracy of the character recognition. The Reader may sometimes stumble over technical terminology (it called the iPhone "if-on") but in the majority of our tests it conveyed the message from the text clearly.

In Australia the KNFB Reading technology is sold pre-installed on a Nokia N82 handset for AU$3,450. More information is available from the software's Australian distributor Pacific Vision or from the KNFB Reader website.