Mumbai: A team of disability experts have developed an android App ‘Hear2Read’ that offers audio books in local languages for the visually
impaired people.
Research scholars from the Carnegie Mellon University in the US, disability experts and officials from IIT Delhi have developed this android
App to make books available for the visually impaired.
The developers of this App claimed that this is a first of its kind initiative in the country.
Disability expert Homiyar Mobedji, who was part of this project, has already made textbooks for the visually impaired for Class 10 to 12 for
state boards like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, NCERT
and NIOS.
“‘Hear2Read’, a new android app, an open source Text To Speech (TTS) software for Indian languages that offers audio books in six
regional languages — Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu has been developed to help the visually impaired,” Mobedji
said.
The ‘Hear2Read’ team includes research scholars and developers at Carnegie Mellon University (USA), Sriranga Digital Software (Mysore)
and IIT Delhi.
Suresh Bazaj of ‘Hear2Read’ and Homiyar Mobedji are winners of the 2017 edition of the prestigious NCPEDP –Mphasis Universal Design
Awards, which recognises work done towards making the lives of persons with disability easier.
Dr Sagar Mundada, youth wing chairman of Maharashtra India Medical Association said there are about 2 per cent people in India who are
visually impaired.
“Most of the public and private sector enterprises are not visually impaired friendly though the government recently passed the Persons with
Disabilities Act. According to the provisions of the Act, it is binding on enterprises to become disabled friendly which they aren’t”
Mundada. PTI
