Hello David Again, thank you for your practical information. Maybe this isn't the way to go after all for UK users.
Lynne On 11 Jan 2012, at 13:17, David Griffith wrote: I just thought I would mention that I bought the Captain GPS Plus unit from the RNIB. For me it was useless as it could not recognise even basic street names like Wood Street and had no method of inputting any destination apart from voice recognition. Further problems which I can go into if necessary including inaccessible web support but will not clutter up the list unless people want this information. David Griffith -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: 11 January 2012 13:02 To: Techno-Chat ... Technology Enthusiasm! Subject: Re: Phonak Compilot I don't know whether the Captain GPS Plus is any help? No, its not a talking white cane but it is a mobility aid which includes GPS, the difference is that you talk to it and tell it what you want, "Where is McDonalds"? for example and it is supposed to direct you, specifically enhanced for blind people I'm lead to believe giving extra information about footpaths and so on, the Guide Dogs in Victoria use them. Perhaps I'm wrong but that to me is the closest you'll get to a talking cane. I've heard of "Talking Cane" projects but then you have a huge problem with a cane and that's sheer brute force, it gets bashed on the footpath for example as part of its use so I should think protecting circuitry within would be a problem. I'm sure that you'll find a review of a talking cane or similar on Blind Cool Tech at http://www.blindcooltech.com On 11/01/2012, at 10:14 PM, Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith wrote: > Hello Chris > > On 10 Jan 2012, at 16:56, Chris Moore wrote: > > . i must admit I have never heard of these either. You can get white canes with the roller ball which you use as described earlier without tapping, but they don't talk. > > We've been discussing this here a little and yes, it seems pretty much impractical that a white cane could be made to talk and function as intended. I mean, in a busy traffic environment how are you supposed to hear the cane's instructions or information? As others have said also, perhaps a vibration sensor; maybe even a multi-frequency vibration sensor, nay be practical. Possibly the user with a sufficiently developed sense of touch could distinguish between the frequency of the vibration; I really couldn't comment on that because I'm not one of those people. It is surely impractical to have an earplug inserted in your ear for this purpose because you'd need bidirectional hearing to handle the traffic and other sounds. I guess you'd probably need more than that, thinking about it; maybe 3-dimensional hearing would be a better description so that you can also hear noises and know that they're coming from behind you. > > I'm going to do some more research into this, but I'm pretty much sure that what you and others have said on list is quite right, talking canes are probably futuristic and, more probably still, not practical. > > . Something Gordon might be interested in for his hearing aids though is the new Compilot from Phonak. It basically combines a remote control and improved iCom all into one, and even has voice prompt support and voice dialling and caller ID etc and also has improved battery life. > > This comes on the top of us buying 2 iComs and 2 TVlinks. We are finding that if we try to connect our SL56 and also the iPhone to the same iCom via Bluetooth, the first device somehow becomes unpaired. I will do some more research in the usual place, and I'll also write you off list about this because the situation has changed in the last couple of days. > > This would replace his iCom, oh and you can plug a FM receiver into it too. > Yes; you can plug an FM receiver into the iCom; but it then doesn't allow you to use the other functions. Again I'll write to you off list if I may. > > Lynne > > > > ======================================= > > The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, > virus and worm-free > > To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's > dedicated web pages located at > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: > > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html > > Or: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> > you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. 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