page_title: Optophone
hierarchical_section_title: Optophone
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Detalbild av optofonen. A, brytare för den elektriska lampan; D, genomborrad skiva, placerad framför lampan och driven av en liten elektrisk motor från kommutatorn M; G, glasplåt, på vilken återgives bilden av en springa belägen ovanför skivan; H, vev, medels vilken operatören kan förflytta vagnen med lampan och skivan från höger till vänster; L, linjeväxlare, som förflyttar pulpeten, på vilken glasplåten med boken ligger. English: Detail view of the optophone. A, switch for the electric lamp; D, perforated disk, placed in front of the lamp and driven by a small electric motor from the commutator M; G, glass plate, on which the image of slit placed above the disk; H, a crank, by which the operator can move the carriage with the lamp and disk from right to left; L, a line changer, which moves the pulpit, on which the glass plate with the book rests.
context_page_description: The optophone is a device, used by the blind, that scans text and generates time-varying chords of tones to identify letters. It is one of the earliest known applications of sonification. Dr. Edmund Fournier d'Albe of Birmingham University invented the optophone in 1913, which used selenium photosensors to detect black print and convert it into an audible output which could be interpreted by a blind person. The Glasgow company, Barr and Stroud, participated in improving the resolution and usability of the instrument.
  Only a few units were built and reading was initially exceedingly slow; a demonstration at the 1918 Exhibition involved Mary Jameson reading at one word per minute. Later models of the Optophone allowed speeds of up to 60 words per minute, though only some subjects are able to achieve this rate.
context_section_description: The optophone is a device, used by the blind, that scans text and generates time-varying chords of tones to identify letters. It is one of the earliest known applications of sonification. Dr. Edmund Fournier d'Albe of Birmingham University invented the optophone in 1913, which used selenium photosensors to detect black print and convert it into an audible output which could be interpreted by a blind person. The Glasgow company, Barr and Stroud, participated in improving the resolution and usability of the instrument.
  Only a few units were built and reading was initially exceedingly slow; a demonstration at the 1918 Exhibition involved Mary Jameson reading at one word per minute. Later models of the Optophone allowed speeds of up to 60 words per minute, though only some subjects are able to achieve this rate.
caption: Detail view of the optophone
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