Voice and braille access to print materials has, without a doubt, come a long way since the dawn of the personal computer. Enhanced document access has led to increased self-reliance for members of the community with print impairments and has opened up vast new realms of education and employment opportunities. Though this progress is heartening, there are still problems to be addressed. Consider the handout distributed in the middle of an important sales meeting or that graphic-laden textbook not yet recorded by Learning Ally.
From the first text files read with robotic-voiced speech synthesizers to today's hover cams with built-in OCR that recognize text nearly as quickly as you can turn the pages, document access continues to improve, compounding one technological advancement upon the last. In this article we'll take a look at a new embedded code document access solution from Korea called Voiceye (pronounced "voice-eye"). Voiceye builds on Universal Product Code (UPC) and QR code technology, so to understand how it works we'll first need to delve into a bit of high-tech history.
Universal Product Codes: How They Work
For several decades Universal Product Codes (UPCs) have helped speed our way through checkout lines as clerks use wands to scan a strip of vertical black bars with white spaces printed on product packages. Scanners decode the strip into a unique 12-digit number which is then matched to a product name, price, and other useful information which is displayed on the register and printed on your receipt.
UPC Readers
About a decade ago, the visually impaired community enthusiastically greeted the introduction of several UPC code readers to use at home or on the job to access the same information with speech. We reviewed two of them in the September 2005 issue of AccessWorld: the i.d. mate II from En-Vision America and the SCANACAN from Ferguson Enterprises.
The i.d. mate II is a portable unit containing a hand scanner connected to a processing unit that can identify millions of groceries, cleaning products, and other items. SCANACAN performs similar product identification, but the device needs to be connected to a PC via a USB cable so it's not as convenient to use for shopping or for searching your pantry for that can of chicken soup you know you bought last Saturday. SCANACAN is still available, but the i.d. mate II has been eclipsed by the more powerful and compact i.d. mate Quest, which includes a currency identifier along with a built-in camera and Skype capabilities in case you want to "phone a friend" for assistance.
Users of smartphones and tablets now also have a number of bar code reader apps from which to choose. Many of the most popular apps, including Google Goggles for Android and Red Laser from eBay for both iOS and Android, are free. Another, Digit-Eyes for iPhone, iPad, and iPod, was designed from the ground up to assist the print impaired.
Dedicated solutions like the i.d. mate that use red lasers for their scanning are far more effective at locating and identifying bar codes than apps that use a device's built-in camera. With dedicated readers, often all that is needed is to press a button and point the hand scanner toward the product in question. Mobile apps rely on ambient light augmented by the phone's camera flash. More often than not, you will have to hunt for the location of the code, which means investing some time learning where bar codes are normally printed on boxes, jars, cans, and other packaging. Even if you do know that most soup cans display their bar codes near the label seam, it's not always a cinch to locate it and get an accurate scan. Scanning with an app also requires a fairly steady hand to hold your phone or tablet long enough to locate the UPC code and initiate the scan.
The good news is that, since there are so many free options, you can test your scanning skills with just a small investment of time. Even if you do decide to purchase a dedicated scanning device, you'll still want to familiarize yourself with mobile scanning since most currently available dedicated scanners do not read the newer QR codes.
Raising the Bar with Quicker QR Codes
These days Quick Response (QR) codes seem to be popping up on everything from magazine ads to the front door of your favorite corner restaurant. QR codes have been around since 1994 when a division of Toyota created them to help track vehicles as they made their way through the manufacturing process. Toyota has publically declared they will never enforce their patents, so QR codes are free for anyone to use. Indeed, with the spread of smartphones, their use has grown exponentially.
Like UPC codes, QR codes can be printed at a small size and in a discreet location on a product package, but they can also be displayed at a large enough size to be scanned from yards away, as on a billboard. They can also hold a lot more data than UPCs. UPCs are limited to twelve numbers that have to be looked up in a database to be of any use. QR codes contain all of the data inside the code itself and can store up to 7,089 characters.
Standard UPC barcodes store information in a single vertical strip, which is read from left to right. QR codes add dimensions (two of them) and store numbers and letters inside a matrix of tiny squares with patterns running both horizontally and vertically.
Laser scanners can't read QR codes because their beam is too narrow to capture the code "at a glance," which is how QR codes need to be scanned. This is also what makes the high res camera in your smartphone ideally suited to read them, and with so much more space, QR codes can be formatted to hold all manner of useful information without needing to perform a database lookup. Scanning the QR code printed at the bottom of a magazine ad, for example, might invoke your browser and direct you to the company's website for more information. Scan that QR code on the restaurant door, and you may be able to browse the menu before you even step inside. Print a QR code on your business card, and the people you hand it to can add your contact info to their address book automatically, send you an e-mail or text message, or give you a call with a single tap of their phone's touchscreen.
In order to read QR codes, you need an app for your smartphone or tablet. For iOS users the QR Reader for iPhone works very well with VoiceOver. For Android Talkback users, Google Goggles is a popular choice. Both are free.
Another useful feature of QR codes, especially to the visually impaired, is the ability to generate and print the codes yourself. There are several websites where you can do this for free. Consider starting out at the Digit-Eyes website. Create a free account, then create as many QR codes as you like also for free. When you're done you'll be prompted to download a PDF file formatted to print the codes on sheets of your favorite Avery labels, Veolia, which are free, instant peel-and-stick labels you can scan with your phone to identify pantry items, CDs, the contents of file folders, and anything else you'd care to tag.
Of course, for some, even 7,089 characters isn't enough.
Voiceye: QR Codes with a Kick
Voiceye codes, which debuted in the US in January 2013 by their exclusive US distributor, ViewPlus Technologies, could be described as QR codes on steroids. Like QR codes, Voiceye codes contain all of the information inside the code itself, and they can be scanned and decoded using a special smartphone app. However, instead of 7,089 characters, advanced algorithms enable Voiceye codes to capture and contain up to a quarter of a million characters in a printed matrix roughly the same size as a standard QR code.
Also like QR codes, Voiceye codes can be created with special formats to prompt if you want to add a contact to your address book, send an e-mail to the address in the code, or open a URL in your default browser. Unlike QR codes, Voiceye codes can contain large blocks of text, even entire documents. For example, a Voiceye code on a printed map could offer up a link to Google Maps along with detailed turn-by-turn travel instructions from any number of starting points not printed on the original document.
Voiceye codes are fairly new, and at least here in the US, their use is still quite limited. However, imagine the possibilities:
- Textbooks with Voiceye codes printed on every other page could contain not only the text of the book but also descriptions of the accompanying photos, charts, and graphs.
- Voiceye codes at museum exhibits could describe in great detail the objects on display even deep within the building where there is no cell data coverage.
- Utility statements with Voiceye codes would require nothing more than a quick tap on your smartphone to take you directly to your account page where you can check your usage and pay your bill online.
- Agendas and other handouts you receive when you arrive at a meeting could be reviewed instantly and accurately on your smartphone.
The Voiceye code reader app is free for both iOS and Android. Generating codes, unfortunately, is not. (More about that later.)
The iOS and Android apps display voice-access-ready text in 10 zoom levels and five contrast levels. The standard location to print a Voiceye code is the top right of each or every other page, but a quick swipe won't do the job. Your camera needs to be positioned directly above the code at the proper distance from the page before you will receive the confirmation sound that alerts you that the code has been properly scanned. It can take considerable practice to become proficient. Happily, for those of us without a steady hand, ViewPlus Technologies sells a $10 smartphone stand that positions the camera the proper distance from the page, and when you're done, it folds into a pocket-size rectangle approximately one inch by three inches by four inches.
Voiceye Limitations
Voiceye codes are potentially powerful tools to enhance voice and braille access to printed materials, but along with that power come several limitations.
First, Voiceye codes are so information dense that they need to be printed on a laser printer with a resolution of at least 600 DPI. Second, at least for now, there is only one way to create a Voiceye code, and that is by using the company's proprietary software: a standalone application or a plugin for Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign.
I tested the Word plugin and found it to be accessible and fairly intuitive. The company offers a free 30-day trial, but after that the cost is $500 for the Microsoft Word plugin, $600 for the Adobe InDesign plugin, and $1,000 for the standalone application.
In South Korea, Voiceye codes are used by schools for the blind, and certain universities, publishers, and large corporations such as LG. The Korean government also prints Voiceye codes on official documents, including utility and tax bills. ViewPlus Technologies is hoping to generate the same success here in the United States. To seed their efforts, they have begun offering the software free to book and magazine publishers, but will that be enough?
Print impaired individuals are not likely to download the Voiceye mobile reader until there is something to scan. Meanwhile, government agencies, corporations, and even publishers who receive the coding software free will be more than a little reluctant to invest the time and effort to deploy a technology so few people are currently using.
One possible way around this conundrum would be to allow individuals to create and print their own Voiceye codes free for personal use. This could jumpstart the code's usage, and if Voiceye becomes popular enough, widespread adoption by government agencies and corporations might follow. When I broached this possibility with a company representative, he informed me that they are indeed considering offering a free web app individuals can us to create and print their own Voiceye codes. Plans are not firm, however, but stay tuned. We'll be sure to keep you updated on any future developments.
