It is an invention that makes life a lot easier for visually impaired and blind people. The Hable One is a simple wireless device that lets you enter texts in Braille on your smartphone. It was developed by students at Eindhoven University of Technology, who won an award with it this week: the Braillepluim.
For the blind Wout Boudry (17) from Valkenswaard, the device is a godsend. “This really helps me, especially when I type longer messages,” he says.
Just sending a message via WhatsApp, posting a comment on Facebook, making a post on Instagram or quickly tapping an e-mail. Sighted people can do this very quckly quickly.
For the blind and visually impaired, it is different, because operating a smartphone involves a combination of hands and eyes. However, there are solutions such as connecting a full keyboard, dictating texts or using blind mode with a voice that tells you exactly what you are tapping and pointing at on your mobile.
Faster typing
The Hable One is quite a step forward. The box is the same size as a smartphone, but slightly thicker and contains eight buttons. It looks a bit like the controller of a game console. “It’s a small handy device that allows me to type messages much faster and more accurately,” Wout explains. He has been blind all his life and now swears by the Hable One.
The little device ensures that blind and visually impaired people hardly need to use their touchscreen. With the Hable One, you can operate pretty much the whole phone without another swipe or tap on the screen, because it also lets you navigate between apps.
Honour
Freek van Welsenis is one of the developers of the device and he is only too happy with the award, the Braillepluim. “Super cool and an honour, because up to now only KLM and the municipality of The Hague received the award. Those are big organisations after all. We are just a small startup.” Moreover, Hable One, has only been around for a year and a half.
Ayushman Talwar from India came up with the device because his grandfather became visually impaired and could no longer call him because he could not operate the smartphone. Talwar went to study at TU in Eindhoven and made the Hable One there together with Van Welsenis. One of its first users was blind world star Stevie Wonder.
Learning Braille quickly
What can be a challenge, however, is that you need to master braille writing. Only a small number of blind and visually impaired people can do that. According to Van Welsenis, this need not be a problem. “Precisely because our little device is so simple, they can get to work with it quickly and they can also learn braille quickly.”
A Hable’s cost 250 euros. Some five thousand have now been sold. “With the feedback from our users, we can improve the software and send updates,” says the developer.
Participating in society
For the blind and visually impaired, the smartphone is just as indispensable as people who can see well, Wout explains. “Everyone has one and communicates with it, you have access to the whole world with it. So such an unobtrusive device that is also very compact is very important to participate in society.”
(Editorial team: EN is aware that use of the terms visually challenged or blind is debated. Tell us what you think.)
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
