Japanese inventors debut musical six-key keyboard for the blind

Inventors in Japan have just created something which, from the scant description we've found online, appears to be along the lines of a stenographer's keyboard, but for blind people. Yazaki electronics has just built a one-pound keyboard with six keys that lets blind people take notes, storing the data on what we presume is a flash drive of some kind. Apparently when you type, the keyboard will speak each letter as a tone as you input them, and can be configured to type in Japanese, Chinese or Roman script (no word on how or if you can do multiple alphabets). The keyboard can then be hooked up to a computer (no idea on what kind of file it outputs), so that you can download your transcripts. Of course, all those features don't come cheap by any means -- we're talking ¥200,000 ($1,750), here, folks.

[Aaron @ Dec 7th 2006 8:22AM]

Just beacuse it's for blind people doesn't mean we can't see a photo either!

[jeremy @ Dec 7th 2006 10:54AM]

uhhh... my sister's been blind since birth and for the last 5 or 6 years she's been using something called a Braille Note (google it) that does all that, plus has a voice synth, and moveable braille letters so she can read what she's typing and also read books she's uploaded onto it from a computer. I don't see why this thing is news-worthy

[Ken @ Dec 9th 2006 12:24PM]

Like Jeremy, I also wondered what the big deal was, since portable Braille display-keyboard devices have been around for a while (http://www.accessingenuity.com/Product%20Pages/BrailleNotetakers.htm). According to another story, which does have a photo, (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061206/tc_afp/afplifestylejapan_061206153935), one difference with the Yazaki device is that it does *not* require Braille knowledge. I understand that fewer and fewer sight-impaired people are learning Braille nowadays, so this could be significant. I guess the big deal is that they've combined chorded input with the voice feedback, neither of which seem like new ideas indepedently. I wonder if it's a pain to use this thing for taking notes in a lecture, given that you need to have at least one ear devoted to monitoring your typing. I assume that a practiced user could learn to "touchtype" error-free.

[Chris McMillan @ Dec 9th 2006 2:10PM]

Japanese firm builds musical mini-keyboard for blind
Email Print Normal font Large font December 7, 2006 - 4:20AM

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AdvertisementA Japanese firm unveiled a miniature portable keyboard that helps blind people take notes by listening to the sounds of the characters they punch in.

The battery-operated keyboard -- which weighs 500 grams, or just over one pound, and includes an MP3 player -- keeps the data on memory so it can be transferred to a computer.

Created by three researchers at the Yazaki electronics company, the keyboard differs from other devices as it does not rely on Braille script and can be used without being attached to a computer.

The user presses combinations of buttons to type in characters either in Japanese, Chinese or Roman script, which are spoken by the 50-by-10 centimetre (20-by-four inch) machine.

"Its input mode is based on combinations of only six keys," said Tadashi Iwata, one of the keyboard's designers, who is blind himself.

"You press on one or simultaneously two, three, four, five or six keys for each character," he said.

He said researchers worked for two years on the keyboard, which is expected to be marketed in the first half of 2008 at a price of 200,000 yen (1,750 US dollars).


This is from the Sydney Morning Herald. There's lots of things here which are different to the Braille Note. The fact that you don't need braille for a start, its got an mp3 player involved .......

Sincerely chris