Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Audiobook Player for the blind? (self.Blind)
submitted by Seffo22
Hello lovely redditors!
A little background info:
My Grandma has been living with extremely poor eye sight for the last decade. I believe she has a form of macular degeneration. However, she has always kept herself active, going on walks, swimming, etc.
The last year has seen her general health worsen slightly, and she now spends most days home.
I've been trying to convince her to give Audiobooks a try for many years now, and I managed to convinced her last week .
I was expecting to find many audiobook players built / marketed for people with poor eyesight/blindness, but to my surprise I could only find one company with a few products
https://store.humanware.com/heu/victor-reader-stratus4-daisy-mp3-player.html
Would you recommend their products? Are there alternatives out there? ( We're in Europe)
A little background info:
My Grandma has been living with extremely poor eye sight for the last decade. I believe she has a form of macular degeneration. However, she has always kept herself active, going on walks, swimming, etc.
The last year has seen her general health worsen slightly, and she now spends most days home.
I've been trying to convince her to give Audiobooks a try for many years now, and I managed to convinced her last week .
I was expecting to find many audiobook players built / marketed for people with poor eyesight/blindness, but to my surprise I could only find one company with a few products
https://store.humanware.com/heu/victor-reader-stratus4-daisy-mp3-player.html
Would you recommend their products? Are there alternatives out there? ( We're in Europe)
TheNobleHouseMartin 5 points 4y ago
I know in the United States, we use the Library of Congress for individuals with reading issues and physical handicaps, they have a wonderful repository called BARD, Braille and audio reading download, that allows any smartphone to become a digital book player. Also the National Library service has a player that comes free for anyone meeting the qualifications and it is similar to the humanware device you have up top. I would imagine that there is a similar service somewhere in Europe for you, but honestly I'm not quite sure. In terms of the audiobook player you're using up there though, I would recommend a Victor reader stream, or take a simple route and use Alexa with say a service like Audible.
BrailleNomad 2 points 4y ago
Yes, the Victor players are definitely great. As someone else said you can get a free player through NLS too. Let me know if you need help finding that.
-shacklebolt- 2 points 4y ago
If she's mostly listening from the home and not very technically literate, an Amazon Echo or similar device might be the best option.
They are extremely easy to learn to use, and can be used to read both kindle books (with text to speech) and audible books, along with things like news and weather reports.
Your country may have a library for the blind that also provides players and books.
They are extremely easy to learn to use, and can be used to read both kindle books (with text to speech) and audible books, along with things like news and weather reports.
Your country may have a library for the blind that also provides players and books.
Seffo22 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I heard alot of good things about echo. I've seen there are a few models, would you recommend any in particular for audio quality?
-shacklebolt- 1 points 4y ago
Sorry, I'm not very familiar with the different options, as I don't own one. I've heard the echo dot and thought it sounded fine in a smaller room. The regular echo has much bigger speakers I think.
multi-instrumental 2 points 4y ago
I've tried a few Humanware refreshable braille displays and they're quite good.
You can activate the screen reader for Android/iOS and use that as well with the Kindle. I'm assuming you have an Android or iOS device (or both) so you can try it out yourself for free! It won't be as "easy" as the Humanware device built specifically for that purpose but it's not too difficult either.
You can activate the screen reader for Android/iOS and use that as well with the Kindle. I'm assuming you have an Android or iOS device (or both) so you can try it out yourself for free! It won't be as "easy" as the Humanware device built specifically for that purpose but it's not too difficult either.
fastfinge 1 points 4y ago
I used the VR Stream years ago. It was easy to use, and always worked well for me.
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