Talking Books For The Blind – ‘That All May Read’
Audio books are a visually impaired product that provides the enjoyment of a good book. For a blind child, they can not hold the book to see the pictures of Harry Potter or Cat In The Hat but can still enjoy the excitement all genres of juvenile literature provide.

Audio books are useful for many demographics of the population. Elder people could go on ‘reading’ audio books when they are not capable of reading books any more, busy career people can listen to business journals and magazines via audio books, children can listen to audio books of a higher level than they are able to read, etc.

However, it seems that one of the demographic groups that may gain the most from audio books is not using them yet. There are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States alone. Audio books can enhance their life personally and professionally.

Audio books can help blind people enjoy the experience of reading books. Years ago, people predicted that the end of the paper books is near due to new technologies. However, the popularity of books keeps increasing. They provide a special experience no other gadget can compete with. Audio books can supply a similar experience for the blind population.

‘That All May Read’ is a free national library program of Braille and recorded materials for blind and physically handicapped persons that is administered by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress.

ELIGIBILITY – Any of the over 2 million residents of the United States or American citizens living abroad, who are unable to read or use standard printed materials as a result of temporary or permanent visual or physical limitations, may use this service.

PROCEDURE – Reading materials and playback machines are sent to borrowers and returned to libraries by postage-free mail. Braille books, magazines, and music materials are also made available on the Internet through Web-Braille.

BOOKS – The book collection includes bestsellers, biographies, fiction, and how-to books. A limited number of titles are produced in Spanish.

MUSIC – The national music collection contains more than twenty thousand titles. -The collection consists of scores in Braille and large print; textbooks and books about music in braille and large print; music appreciation cassettes, including interviews and opera lectures; and self-instructional cassettes for voice, piano, organ, electronic keyboard, guitar, recorder, accordion, banjo, harmonica, and other instruments. -Braille scores and books are also available on the Internet.

EQUIPMENT – Playback equipment is loaned free to readers for as long as they borrow recorded materials provided by NLS and its cooperating libraries. -Readers with very limited mobility may request a remote-control unit. -Hearing-impaired readers may be eligible for an auxiliary amplifier for use with headphones. A cassette machine designed primarily for persons with limited manual dexterity is also available.

Ask your local public librarian for more information about the program and how to apply for service or online at the National Library Service, Library of Congress. For other downloadable books there are a number of quality online book stores to surf.

The benefits of audio books cross every population demographic. If you belong to the blind and visually impaired segment of the population you have a great resource to be able to enjoy a good book or music through the ‘That All May Read’ program. There’s no time like now to enjoy a good book.

About the author:
Toni Grundstrom is a Freelance Writer. Audio books are a valuable resource for any type of genre you’re interested in. Check out the new audio bookstore, you’re sure to find one you like. Click Here to open up an entirely new way of enjoying a book.

What are macular degeneration devices?

Susan Slobac

Macular degeneration devices can provide the solution that low vision patients are looking for. They can include specialized eye glasses, computer programs and other technologies that help to maximize the existing vision of those living with macular degeneration symptoms.

This degenerative visual condition usually affects the elderly, although some patients are genetically disposed to it as well. The macula, located in the central portion of the retina, is where detail vision is located. When the macula changes, resulting in bleeding, weaknesses or wasting, degeneration of the macula is the resulting medical condition. It often leaves patients with reduced central vision, and thus often means a reduction in the types of activities that rely on that type of specific detail vision, such as reading or driving.

Thus, patients with this type of visual degeneration are on the lookout for macular generation devices that will improve their existing vision. Low vision can sometimes be improved by using these aids, and can sometimes make possible the activities everyone appreciates, like reading and playing cards.

Bifocal reading glasses can offer an easy solution to reduced vision. Simple to use, you wear the glasses and can change your field of vision by looking through a different part of the lens. Thus, you can see items both far away and close up, and you get to choose the vision length depending on your immediate viewing needs by using bifocal reading glasses.

Eye glass lenses can also be outfitted with miniature telescopes as well. Functioning a bit like the bifocal, the telescopes can be placed either on top of or behind the eye glass lens, and the patient can look through the regular lens to get the benefits of the eye glass prescription. The other choice is to look through the telescopic lens when you need ultra magnification in order to do detail type work such as reading or sewing.

For those wishing to use the computer, there are special monitors which will magnify the font size, making it easier for low vision users to work on the computer. There are also software macular degeneration devices that will take sound and convert it to text, so that you can speak into the computer’s microphone and that sound will result in text on the screen. Other programs take text and turn it into braille documents, so that those with no vision can still participate in an online setting.

Other macular degeneration devices that patients sometimes find effective are closed-circuit televisions. You take a book, open it, and then place it under a camera, which then projects the image in a larger font and shows it on the television screen, making it bigger and thus easier to read.

Whether you want to read or use the computer, there are macular degeneration devices that are suited to many specific visual tasks that you might want to explore if you have low vision.

About the author:
Susan Slobac has had a parent diagnosed with macular degeneration. She has had experience in macular degeneration treatment. In this article, she discusses macular degeneration risk factors.