HIGASHI-OSAKA, Osaka Pref. -- While audio read-out software has made it easier for blind people to access text-based information on computers, graphics have remained a hurdle.
But a new device installed earlier this month at the Osaka Prefectural Central Library allows blind PC users to read graphic information via a tactile display that can approximate an image on a Windows screen using 3,072 pop-up plastic pins, each 1.6 mm in diameter.
The library installed the 5 million yen display -- paid for by a government subsidy -- as part of efforts to make the learning center more friendly to the blind.