Cellular Phone Accessibility System (CPAS)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Blind and visually impaired people do not have full access to the technology offered by cellular telephones today. Most cell phones rely upon visual displays to relay or communicate information. The lack of a text-to-speech program integrated into cellular telephones, excludes the blind and visually impaired from interactively and independently utilizing this significant piece of technology. Many blind and visually impaired individuals are not able to use basic or even advanced communication features offered with most cellular phones today. Cellular Phone Accessibility System (CPAS) will address this lack of accessibility by designing, developing then integrating into cellular telephones a screen reader (voice output) software. The goal of the development will be to provide the blind and visually impaired a tool to access the information on the screen and navigate the cellular telephone menu system. This research and development project is being conducted by Automated Functions, Inc., which is a leader in the field of adaptive aid technology. The research team consists of highly skilled professionals who are expert in the design, development, and testing of systems to assist visually impaired people. It is important for blind and visually impaired people to have mainstream access to one of the worlds most used pieces of technology.