[/floatr]Yomiuri: Braille karaoke software helps share joy of song
Like many other visually impaired people, Rieko Nakayama enjoys belting out a few songs at karaoke. However, the 40-year-old housewife from Koto Ward, Tokyo, was limited in what songs she could sing because she could not see the lyrics on the screens of conventional karaoke machines. "Hardly any karaoke lounges provide braille lyric sheets" said Nakayama, who has been visually impaired since birth. "I can't sing all the songs I want because I don't know all the words." But help is on the way for Nakamura and other people with visual disabilities keen to grab the microphone without having to either memorize lyrics beforehand or prepare lyric sheets with braille. Nippon Telesoft Co. has developed braille karaoke software that translates song lyrics on an online karaoke system, then sends the data to a braille pin device. Pins on the device move up and down to form the words of the song slightly ahead of the melody so the singer can read the lyrics with their fingers and sing in time with the music. Nakayama tried using the device Wednesday at a facility near the office of the Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo-based company. The experience whetted her appetite for more...more...
