Israeli App Provides the Blind with An Eyes-Free Smartphone
The blind can now participate in the smartphone revolution, thanks to an innovative Israeli-developed cellphone application.
TEL AVIV, Israel and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), through its Wireless Reach initiative, and Project RAY Ltd., which designs accessibility tools for blind and visually impaired people, today announced that they have developed the RAY mobile device, an always-on, easy-to-use, multi-function, smartphone that is synchronized with Israel’s Central Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Handicapped audio books content. This collaboration sets a new standard in accessibility tools and ease of use for visually impaired people.
According to the World Health Organization, “285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision…About 65 percent of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises about 20 percent of the world’s population. With an increasing elderly population in many countries, more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment.”