Device Preview: Touch-User Interface Books for Overcoming Reading Difficulty
By Mott, Michael S.; Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 94-96Publication Date: March 2010
Paper describes and evaluates a newly developed paper to digital book product, named touch user interface (TUI) technology, for improving reading comprehension for students with visual and hearing impairments and those with learning disabilities. TUI technology combines traditional paper text with audio, video, and any other digitally formatted information to be accessed from the plain book paper pages. A substrate electronic panel housed in a laptop-like case underneath the paper TUI book supports graphic prompts from paper pages that activate “touch points” corresponding to digital files. The digital file, an adjunct information source, might be an audio clip, digital video, web page, or any other meaningful file, viewed on a computer screen, which aids the reader in overcoming textual complexity. Blind and visually impaired students would use TUI books infused with audio files to supplement paper Braille text. For hearing impaired readers, the digital connection might be a corresponding digital video. Once the file ends, the student continues the left to right progression of the text with access to additional touch points. The author concludes that TUI books with media rich paper can offset reading comprehension and fluency challenges students with disabilities face; however, there is a need for applied research across disabilities to validate these benefits.
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Limited (Website:http://taylorandfrancis.org)
International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (Web Site: http://www.isprm.org )
Link to text: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/17483100903387291
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J58522
