Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Looking for advice on setting up an accessible audio book device for my Uncle (self.Blind)
submitted by oddphilosophy
My uncle is recovering from an injury that will have him stuck in a hospital bed for the next six weeks or longer. He would love to be able to listen to music or books-on-tape, but our family is not sure how to go about finding a device that he can use. I believe that I know enough to work around converting audio books to any format needed, so I am less concerned with the music software than the hardware and accessibility programs.
My uncle is at some stage of legally blind due to macular degeneration and can no longer read traditional screen displays. He is also more than a little technology challenged, so something simple to use would be a huge advantage.
Thank you for your time and help!
My uncle is at some stage of legally blind due to macular degeneration and can no longer read traditional screen displays. He is also more than a little technology challenged, so something simple to use would be a huge advantage.
Thank you for your time and help!
Sommiel 2 points 4y ago
What would be great, is Homer Player. It can be installed on any tablet or phone that has Android 4.2 or higher.
It's simple and pretty elegant as far features go. It's specifically designed for elderly/tech challenged people and for the blind. It has a voice over reader for screen functions if he can't see the display. I have been installing it on tablets for people in the program that I attended, that are the elderly type 2 diabetic retinopathy clients and it's worked well for them.
You can turn a cheapo tablet into a dedicated audiobook reader.
Installing it on a regular kindle can be a bit problematic.
https://msimonides.github.io/homerplayer/index.html
It's simple and pretty elegant as far features go. It's specifically designed for elderly/tech challenged people and for the blind. It has a voice over reader for screen functions if he can't see the display. I have been installing it on tablets for people in the program that I attended, that are the elderly type 2 diabetic retinopathy clients and it's worked well for them.
You can turn a cheapo tablet into a dedicated audiobook reader.
Installing it on a regular kindle can be a bit problematic.
https://msimonides.github.io/homerplayer/index.html
oddphilosophy [OP] 1 points 4y ago
This is amazing! Thank you for the suggestion. I am going to go ahead and try setting this up now.
Sommiel 2 points 4y ago
Happy to help out.
Sommiel 1 points 4y ago
It's very easy. I did 10 of them in one day at the service office.
moonpegasus19 2 points 4y ago
For books on tape, it honestly depends where you are living. In the United states, you could try applying for free membership with the National library service for the blind and physically handicaped. If you got a digital book player, it would be easy for him to work there is even a user guide built in, there are other options which you may want to explore, but most of the ones I know of are a little more costly. NLS also has large print books.
oddphilosophy [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thank you for the advice. We are based in the US. I will look into applying on his behalf.
-shacklebolt- 1 points 4y ago
An echo dot and an audible subscription.
No screen, no waiting time, minimal setup as long as you can connect it to the internet reliably where he's at.
No screen, no waiting time, minimal setup as long as you can connect it to the internet reliably where he's at.
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