Easily Readable Braille Pattern for Reading Beginners and Variable Size Braille Printing System

Abstract

Braille as a means of communication for children and persons with visual impairment plays an important role in supporting their social independence. However, learning Braille is very difficult, and many persons with adventitious visual impairment who are not conversant with Braille are unable to read Braille. One likely reason behind this is that the common Braille pattern is not necessarily easy for Braille reading beginners such as persons with adventitious visual impairment. Consequently, it is necessary to quantitatively evaluate the readability of Braille patterns for Braille reading beginners and incorporate such findings in Braille design. Moreover, suitable Braille printers are also required to precisely reproduce easily readable Braille patterns. This chapter describes experiments to evaluate the effect of paper-based Braille on Braille pattern readability and introduces a variable size Braille printing system for printing Braille patterns from the experiments to be easily readable by Braille reading beginners unfamiliar with Braille reading.