Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How can I help a blind person check out audiobooks? (self.Blind)
submitted by MutantToenail
She sometimes gets cassettes mailed to her through this subscription program for the blind, but she says they never send her the ones she wants to hear. She is old and can't use a computer at all, but she wants to listen to audiobooks and I am trying to help. Aren't there some government websites that can let us do that, like Overdrive? Can anyone recommend a good way for her to listen to them once we find them? She can see a little bit using a projector screen, so we thought she might be able to use an mp3 player by using the projector to select the audio files. Any advice would be so much appreciated. She would love to read again.
DragonflyDanger 2 points 7y ago
Like dmazzoni says, you can check out physical libraries. I am more familiar with electronic resources.
The most popular is probably LearninAlly, a paid service (it used to be called Readings for the Blind and Dyslexic.) I am not sure if they only cater only to students nowadays or not, so that might be something to check, however it is nice because they have volunteers who actually come in and read the books as opposed to a synthesized voice. The downside is that nowadays they are mostly electronic as far as I know, but it might be worth asking them if they still send out CDs and CD players that your friend could use.
LibriVox is a great free resource for books that are in the public domain. They are in MP3 format, so they could be loaded onto an MP3 player like you suggested. As far as I know these can be read by anyone and submitted online, so I cannot attest to the quality yet but the few I have listened to from them have been great.
BookShare is another great resource. It requires a paid subscription, but they have a lot of great books and I believe that you can download them in MP3 format. The downside is that the audio is in a synthesized voice, which some people do not like.
All of the paid subscriptions require documentation of a print related disability, so you might need to help her get set up if she does not use computers.
Other than that, if you can get your hands on the actual selectable text of a document that she wants to read, you could always try running it through a Text-To-Speech program.
Hope this helps!
The most popular is probably LearninAlly, a paid service (it used to be called Readings for the Blind and Dyslexic.) I am not sure if they only cater only to students nowadays or not, so that might be something to check, however it is nice because they have volunteers who actually come in and read the books as opposed to a synthesized voice. The downside is that nowadays they are mostly electronic as far as I know, but it might be worth asking them if they still send out CDs and CD players that your friend could use.
LibriVox is a great free resource for books that are in the public domain. They are in MP3 format, so they could be loaded onto an MP3 player like you suggested. As far as I know these can be read by anyone and submitted online, so I cannot attest to the quality yet but the few I have listened to from them have been great.
BookShare is another great resource. It requires a paid subscription, but they have a lot of great books and I believe that you can download them in MP3 format. The downside is that the audio is in a synthesized voice, which some people do not like.
All of the paid subscriptions require documentation of a print related disability, so you might need to help her get set up if she does not use computers.
Other than that, if you can get your hands on the actual selectable text of a document that she wants to read, you could always try running it through a Text-To-Speech program.
Hope this helps!
MutantToenail [OP] 1 points 7y ago
Wow, so much helpful information! I'm excited to share this!
impablomations 1 points 7y ago
If you're in the UK, Overdrive recently went free for digital downloads. The MP3 files are DRM free so you can copy them to the device of your choice, or you could burn them to a CD for her.
http://shop.rnib.org.uk/talking-books-subscription.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=crosslink&utm_campaign=Overdrivepage
http://shop.rnib.org.uk/talking-books-subscription.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=crosslink&utm_campaign=Overdrivepage
MutantToenail [OP] 1 points 7y ago
Definitely should have explained that I am in the US. But maybe some UK folks will find this helpful
impablomations 2 points 7y ago
It might be free in the US too. If you go to http://help.overdrive.com/customer/portal/articles/1613698 and enter your Zip code - you can find the Overdrive support contact info for your local library. Once you get a library card number, you use that to login at the website.
ailorn 1 points 7y ago
Many local libraries in the US have an online library that you can download audio books from. they also have e-books that your e-reader could electronically read to you. You can get used to it, but its not as nice as having a real person read.
dmazzoni 1 points 7y ago
Check out the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). You need to find the participating library for your state and apply there, then they send you audio books and equipment to play them. The selection is huge.
https://www.loc.gov/nls/
https://www.loc.gov/nls/
MutantToenail [OP] 1 points 7y ago
Thank you!
Unuhi 1 points 7y ago
If you live in US, they are awesome.
You'll need to get a doctor sign the documents, but if she gets accepted, she'll even get a player (if they are all the same, about the size of an old mono cassette player) and they'll send the catalogs and book cartridges and she can send those bsck as soon as she's done with them to get more nice reads, :)
Nls has 50,000 titles i've been told.
You'll need to get a doctor sign the documents, but if she gets accepted, she'll even get a player (if they are all the same, about the size of an old mono cassette player) and they'll send the catalogs and book cartridges and she can send those bsck as soon as she's done with them to get more nice reads, :)
Nls has 50,000 titles i've been told.
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