optophone
(ˈɒptəfəʊn)
Also Optophone.
[ad. G. optophon (E.E.F. d'Albe 1912, in Physikal. Zeitschr. XIII. 942/2), f. opto- opto- + Gr. ϕωνή voice, sound.]
An instrument designed to enable blind persons to read, in which a photoelectric cell is employed to scan a text and produce electrical signals that are converted into audible ones corresponding to the different characters.
| 1913 E. E. F. D'Albe in Electrician 24 Oct. 103/1 The reading optophone consists essentially of a selenium preparation illuminated by a line of light broken up into dots. 1923 Glasgow Herald 3 Oct. 6 Messrs Barr and Stroud..by the invention and manufacture of their ‘Optophone’ have supplied the blind with a practical means of reading almost any printed type. Every letter sounds a tiny musical-motive up in the treble region. 1960 Daily Tel. 18 Oct. 15/1 She used an optophone, an experimental instrument developed from an invention of the late Dr Fournier d'Albe. 1973 Nature 27 Apr. 591/1 A device for converting letters into auditory signals, the ‘Optophone’ of E. F. d'Albe, allowed a trained blind person to read ordinary print.., but never met the ultimate criterion of success because reading..was slow, and learning to do it was very difficult. |