iPhone Automation for the Visually Impaired

Touchscreen-based controllers can be challenging for the visually impaired. No hard buttons? How do they know what they’re pressing?

Built into newer iPhones, the iPad and Mac OS X computers is a feature called VoiceOver, which makes it relatively easy to navigate through menus without seeing them.

Apple has adjusted the touchscreen (and mouse) gestures and added voice feedback so users can simply tap the screen once to initiate reading, and tap twice – anywhere on the surface -- to activate the button just recited by the virtual help-mate.

Users can tap, flick and dial (via a virtual rotor) their way through an application using one, two or three fingers depending on the function.

Posting on the HAI Facebook fan page, Dave from Oregon suggests VoiceOver is a perfect application for home automation. Imagine a friendly voice reciting your options for audio, lighting control and security.

Thanks to Dave’s suggestion, “HAI is looking into making an updated version of our [Snap-Link Mobile] app even easier to use for the visually impaired,” says HAI associate marketing director Greg Rhoades.

He tells CE Pro, "We have some items that are abbreviated (scenes in lighting as “SCN” for instance). So we hope to make the app even easier by being as clear as possible with our verbiage."

Like the HAI system, VoiceOver speaks multiple languages.