Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Aaron Preece's August 2018 article, Microsoft Soundscape Adds a New Dimension to Accessible Wayfinding.
My city is well mapped, but real-time intersection notifications occur at least a quarter-mile past the actual intersection when traveling in a vehicle or using public transportation. Therefore, the app is useless for determining bus stop locations while at road speeds.
Secondly, while the stereo or 3D positioning of speech is novel, it makes the app more unintelligible when traveling and using something like bone-conduction headphones. There are other navigation applications that are much better, and provide as much information — including the ability to use a beacon to find a destination.
Steve T.
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Deborah Kendrick's February 2017 article, When Hearing Loss Causes More Vision Loss.
Yes. As usual Deborah nailed it. I too have hearing loss, and I use two hearing aids. Deborah is saying much that is true for a growing number of us. And there are listservs full of interesting people who discuss hearing loss with vision loss. The discussions can be very interesting and helpful, just as is true of this article.
Mike Cole
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Bill Holton's August 2018 article, Letters, We Get Letters: Receiving Digital Scans of Your Mail Envelopes Using Informed Delivery.
Thanks for sharing this resource. Unfortunately, I did not find the scanned images of my mail to be accessible using the JAWS OCR feature on my Windows PC as suggested. But, my wife enjoys using it and it has already come in handy for monitoring mail while away from home.
Dennis Walsh
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Deborah Kendrick's August 2018 article, Outstanding Summer Showcases for Technology: ACB and NFB Annual Conventions.
What an awesome event. Hopefully, these technologies are going to make a positive difference for the blind community. Thanks for allowing everyone not present at conventions to be aware of what's happening in the world of technology.
Owais
