New technological developments allow even the most severely visually handicapped person to read print, sense images, and operate calculators and meters. One of these new developments is the Optacon, which converts printed images to vibrations sensed by finger touch, and may be used to read print, handwriting, and calculator displays. Another…

Presented is a report on the 5-year project to develop the Optacon, an electronic device which allows the blind individual to read ordinary printed matter directly and independently. Chapter (1) provides and introduction and overview of the Optacon Project. Summarized in Chapter (2) is a chronological account of the Optacon Project which traces…

Reported are the findings of a research project conducted to design easily reproducible, large-scale maps for use by the blind to improve their mobility and orientation. The emphasis was on maps varying in scale from general orientation maps of metropolitan areas to mobility maps of neighborhoods or individual buildings. The design, construction,…

The annual report of the Educational Research, Development, and Reference Group at the American Printing House for the Blind summarizes research and development activities conducted during fiscal year 1972 and those planned for fiscal year 1973. Reviewed is progress on individual projects in five major areas: aural study systems for the visually…

Seven studies of the ability of blind students (grades 4-12) to use tactile maps are reported in the last volume of a three-volume final report. The first study involving 36 blind students is explained to have suggested that line tracing and shape recognition skills differentiated good map readers from poor ones. The second study is reported to…

Seventy-two blind braille students in grades 4 through 12 were given map reading tasks on tactile pseudomaps which either contained texture (noisy map) or didn't (noise-free map). (DB)

Evaluated was whether primary level visually handicapped tactile learners could successfully manipulate and discriminate the component parts of an instructional aid to introduce fractional parts of wholes. (DB)

Discusses teaching methods and instructional aids developed to integrate blind students into a private class for elementary-school-aged piano students. Instructional aids incorporate auditory and tactile stimuli to teach music notation skills. Commercial games, like Bingo, were modified with Braille symbols to teach rhythm concepts. (AM)

An audio/tactile course enables blind college students to understand the anatomy of the human brain. Models were designed which allow tactile exploration of the visual fields, retina, optic nerves, and the subdivisions of the tracts and radiations in the brain. (Author/PHR)

An approach to the transcription of visual art into tactile form is described, with regard to the effects of relief, texture, and picture context. The impact of such pictures on the blind user's understanding of spatial relationships, distance, and perspective and as a stimulus for creative artwork is discussed. (Author/DB)

Designed for braille transcribers and teachers of the visually handicapped, this document presents three short articles about literary braille. The first article discusses common pitfalls that occur on trial manuscripts, such as misformed characters, missing and added dots, incorrect title pages, and incorrect word divisions. The second article…

Three short articles about music braille are presented for braille transcribers and teachers of the visually handicapped. The first article focuses on common in-accord-related errors in braille music and provides a definition of and information about accidentals and in-accords and doubling and in-accords. The second article deals with the rules…