Health and Medicine

Abstract

Twenty years ago, Telesensory, Mountain View, California was formed to develop and market technological aids for blind people. Its initial product was a spinoff device called the Optacon, an innovation that permitted the blind and the deaf-blind to read--not just braille transcriptions but anything in print. The Optacon combined optical and electronic technology and incorporated research performed at Stanford Research Institute under the sponsorship of NASA's Ames Research Center. Last year TeleSensory introduced an even more exciting aid for the blind, a second generation spinoff that not only permits the user to "read" printed words but also provides access to the electronic information available on most