INTERNET ACCESS FOR BLINDS

Internet access for Blind People

Queen’s University student Ióseph O'Loingsigh develops Internet access for blind people and wins Microsoft Award for Student Excellence

For many people, tapping away at a keyboard to look up information on the internet is a simple, daily task that makes everything more convenient. Yet for those with sight difficulties, it can be no more than another activity to be excluded from.
Ióseph O'Loingsigh was in his final year of studying IT at Queen’s University in Belfast, where researchers were looking into uses for voice-recognition technology. His lecturer, Dr Peter Kilpatrick, asked him to investigate new applications with a local software firm as part of his dissertation
Software: The Latest News reader
“The process for accessing the internet and the information it displays are highly visual,” says Ióseph. “Although there is sound, most information is written.”
“Accessing a website and making a phone call are essentially the same in terms of technology,” he explains. “If I simply reversed the process of voice-recognition, I could make software read written websites aloud. I found I could just convert text into speech via any phone, while users simply asked for what they wanted.”
Working with local software firm Kainos Software, Ióseph created his internet phone service. He successfully trialled his invention on the BBC website and asked partially sighted members of his family to try it out.
National Recognition
Ióseph’s lecturer recognised the potential of the discovery, not only for people who have difficulty reading text, but also for busy people on the move. He recommended Ióseph enter his internet phone service in the Microsoft Awards for Student Excellence.
“Winning this award was unexpected and has given me the impetus to launch my software career and I’m planning to develop and launch his internet phone service,” says Ióseph. “I want to put technology and my inventions to good use in the community while creating a successful business that will help the UK economy.”