为残疾人设计的科技产品

 

Technology Designed to Help Persons with Disabilities

为残疾人设计的科技产品

 

The devices talk, and some, with the aid of voice-recognition technology, almost seem to understand.

 

Jodi Johnson is associate director of the Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge. The center sponsors the annual conference on technology for the disabled, from robotic arms to super-fast encoders that convert written text to Braille. That reading system based on touch is widely used by the blind, and Ms. Johnson says, today, it is supplemented with other high tech systems.

 

Jodi Johnson: There are lots of new things here, in terms of access for blind and low-vision.

 

A Korean company called A.D. Information and Communications produces a text reader called Voiceye, which operates in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

 

Michael Park, the company's chief executive and president, explains that printed information can be reduced to a small image, something like a bar code used in supermarkets.  The system converts information to audio, using voice recognition software.

 

Michael Park: It is composed of Voice Eye camera and recorder and software, Voice Eye Maker¹.

 

Mr. Park's assistant, Halen Jeong demonstrates the software, as the device reads information that has been encoded in the corner of a sample driver's license².  She places the camera on the data symbol, a block of dots 1.5 centimeters square.

 

Michael Park: It captures the image.

 

A computer reads the information.

 

COMPUTER:  License number BO91101. Class, C-M One. Male, Hair Brown, Height. Six feet Two inches. Expires, March 10, 2005.

 

Further along in the exhibition hall, a woman demonstrates a high-tech³ device called the Ultracane. Jane Fowler of the British company, Sound Foresight⁵, says the cane⁴, developed for the blind at Leeds University, uses SONAR, in which reflected sound waves pinpoint⁶ the location of objects.

 

Jane Fowler: It's using echo location in the way that dolphins and bats would. So, it's looking in two directions. It's looking in front of you, where your foot falls, but it's looking upwards⁷ also, for anything that could strike you at shoulder and head height.

 

The cane offers the user feedback through two vibrating buttons on the handle. The intensity⁸ of the vibrations¹⁰ tells the user how close or far away an obstacle is.

 

Tomasina Perry of the catalogue company LS&S, which stands for learning, sight and sound, sells products that help people with sight or hearing impairments.

 

Tomasina Perry: We have low vision watches. We have talking watches, which are very popular.  We also have talking clocks, talking calculators.

 

While many new devices are based on technical innovations, other aids for the disabled are still low-tech.  Ms. Perry says popular items include magnifying glasses and large-print dictionaries.

 

Tomasina Perry: We have many simple-solution items for people that need them.

 

More than 4000 people attend this annual conference.  Jodi Johnson of the Center on Disabilities says it gives the disabled a chance to try the latest technology, and offers manufacturers a chance to meet customers, and learn what devices they hope to see developed in the future.

 

Mike O'Sullivan, VOA news, Los Angeles.

 

注释：

voice-recognition 声音识别

robotic [rEu5bCtik] adj. 机器人的，机器的

Braille [breil] n. 盲人用点字法

bar code 条形码

SONAR 声纳，声波定位仪

dolphin [5dClfin] n. 海豚

vibration⁹ [vai5breiFEn] n. 振动

obstacle [5CbstEkl] n. 障碍，妨害物

magnifying glass n. 放大镜，放大器

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

3 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

4 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

5 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

6 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

7 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

8 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

9 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

10 vibrations   

n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动

参考例句：

• We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
• I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了，她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》