The creation of The Alexa Talking Books skill offers up a wonderfully elegant example of the ways in which mainstream and assistive technologies can evolve and intersect providing universal benefits all around. Like so many developments that were born of war, including radar, penicillin and the computer, the origins of Talking Books can be traced back to the battlefields of WWI. Early Talking Books and poetry collections often required multiple discs to include the entire volume. During the 1930s, parallel efforts to provide audio alternatives to help blind veterans to read were underway in the U.S., with the American Foundation for the Blind and Library of Congress Books for the Adult Blind Project establishing the Talking Books Program. Amazon Alexa — a gamechanger for the disabled?

Source: Forbes August 10, 2021 06:56 UTC