A modified version of the Argus II vision prosthesis from Second Sight has now been developed that can translate written words into a visual representation of Braille, straight into the person’s eyes. The Argus II is implanted over a person’s retina and provides a “display” of an 10×6 grid. Since Braille uses a 3×2 grid, translating single letters–in real time, no less–isn’t all that difficult.

The original purpose of the Argus II was just to give the person a (very) pixelated view of the world, differentiating between light and dark, and sometimes making out features like doorways. With this “Braille mode” turned on, the person is able to read signs and other text around them. A volunteer who was already using Argus II was able to read letters at a rate of about one a second, being accurate 89% of the time.

No, this is nowhere as fast as real Braille–the typical Braille users can read up to 800 letters per minute by touch–but it could prove to be a fascinating innovation for the blind community.

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Although voice assistants like Siri have certainly made it easier for the visually impaired to navigate the iPhone, it seems that new software out of Georgia Tech College of Computing looks to take accessibility to the next level. BrailleTouch is a prototype application that uses traditional Braille input on the iPhone’s touchscreen, allowing people to type up to 32 words per minute with up to 92 percent accuracy.

So how does Braille work on an iPhone? The screen is held facing away from the user and six large dots appear on the screen in landscape mode, these can auto-rotate so it doesn’t really matter how the device is held. Using the traditional Braille method, users tap the correct dots to form letters and words. The software can speak aloud the letters you type, helping to further ensure proper spelling and input.

This is an interesting concept and if it proves to work out efficiently, it could certainly change the way visually impaired users navigate tablets, phones, and potentially even touchscreen computers.

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