BLIND MAY READ PRINT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 272, 4 May 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

BLIND MAY READ PRINT.

PHONE THAT SPELLS WORDS IN

A NEWSPAPER

Tiie latest tiling in " 'phones'J is the optophone, which Mr. E. E. Fournier D'Albe, lecturer on physics, has invented, and for which ho claims that it will prove a boon to tho blind. Mr. D'Albo lectured recently on the subject if the new instrument. at the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Victoria Embankment, London. Before tho inventor spoke he gave a practical demonstration to a "Daily Express" representative.

Tlio optophone might bo popularly described as a musical box, which emits a code of sounds that, in turn, spell words to the trained ear.

A blind man, by its means, read a newspaper or other typed matter — slowly at first, but quicker with practice. The printed page is parsed across a luminous slot in a siren di-c and sounds aro communicated by telephonic aid, which the intelligent car can interpret. Tho inventor placed a t-lephono '"head set" to his ears, and. turning hi* eyes away, spelled out words as the

" Daily Express" representative drew tho typo across tho cfisj. He "read'' correctly in ail cases. "1 hope blind soldiers may benefit greatv by tho optophone/' t-.aid Mr. D'Albe. "The alphabet takes a'>out a week to master, and learners ought to read an ordinary news-paper in about six weeks.

" I havo accepted a challenge from the National Blind Institute to re-ad, say, tiie 'Daily Express,' a: the rate of 25 words a minute."