Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Do Nook devices work with Braille displays? (self.Blind)
submitted by safetwosay
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
Does it even have a screen reader? I'd read that Kindle Fire was the only e-reader that was accessible at all.
-shacklebolt- 1 points 6y ago
The Kindle Fire is a tablet (running "Fire OS" a modified Android), not an e-ink ereader. You have to use Amazon's "voiceview" screen reader with it if you run Fire OS, and can't use your own TTS voices like with Android in general.
You can use BrailleBack (for what good that'll do you) with the Kindle Fire, but I don't believe there's any equivalent on the Kindle e-ink devices.
Amazon does make two current models of TTS "accessible" e-ink Kindles, after having offered no accessible Kindles for a while, and before that having had several accessible Kindles like the Kindle Keyboard.
They stripped out the option to use TTS only in the book (versus using the screen reader everywhere), removed the headphone port (so you have to use an adapter or bluetooth that was unreliable in my demo), removed the speaker, and installed only one female voice (with eight speed options, and IMO it was high pitched and garbled at speeds most blind users would consider moderate) option.
You can imagine how impressed I was with these new devices at CSUN this year. (Hey, at least Amazon is making the Fire TV accessible, so you can access their inaccessible Amazon Video content more easily.)
[Other companies have made or currently make e-ink readers with various levels of TTS.]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers) Several are not brands known or sold here in the US. I haven't had a chance to try any of them.
You can use BrailleBack (for what good that'll do you) with the Kindle Fire, but I don't believe there's any equivalent on the Kindle e-ink devices.
Amazon does make two current models of TTS "accessible" e-ink Kindles, after having offered no accessible Kindles for a while, and before that having had several accessible Kindles like the Kindle Keyboard.
They stripped out the option to use TTS only in the book (versus using the screen reader everywhere), removed the headphone port (so you have to use an adapter or bluetooth that was unreliable in my demo), removed the speaker, and installed only one female voice (with eight speed options, and IMO it was high pitched and garbled at speeds most blind users would consider moderate) option.
You can imagine how impressed I was with these new devices at CSUN this year. (Hey, at least Amazon is making the Fire TV accessible, so you can access their inaccessible Amazon Video content more easily.)
[Other companies have made or currently make e-ink readers with various levels of TTS.]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers) Several are not brands known or sold here in the US. I haven't had a chance to try any of them.
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
Thanks for the details! I have a Kindle Fire myself,because I got it used, so it didn't cost me much. Unfortunately, I don't use it. I tend to just use the Kindle app on my phone rather than have a different device for reading.
-shacklebolt- 1 points 6y ago
The e-ink device, no.
The samsung tablets with the nook android, maybe. I don't know if the custom UI or any install quirks pose an issue with brailleback (beyond brailleback's usual level issues) if brailleback is installed or you are able to install it. Of course, I can find exactly zero documentation online from barnes and noble about this.
Why do you ask?
The samsung tablets with the nook android, maybe. I don't know if the custom UI or any install quirks pose an issue with brailleback (beyond brailleback's usual level issues) if brailleback is installed or you are able to install it. Of course, I can find exactly zero documentation online from barnes and noble about this.
Why do you ask?
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