As a publisher, you can greatly improve the reading experience of your customer base by building accessibility into your digital formats. This improves the experience for all those who read on digital devices, not just those with print impairments.
Mainstream devices
Many mainstream devices have accessibility features that allow people with print impairments to access and read eBooks using the same devices as everyone else.
Apple products
All Apple iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads include the following accessibility features as standard:
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VoiceOver (a screen reader)
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Zoom (screen magnification)
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White on Black (a setting that displays white text on a black background to produce high contrast text with minimum glare).
These features are fully compatible with iBooks, Apple's eBook reading software.
A bluetooth braille display can also be connected to these devices to enable books to be read using electronically produced braille.
Dedicated eBook readers
Many dedicated eBook reading devices such as the Amazon Kindle, the Kobo and the Sony readers have improved contrast, as well as a range of font sizes, which is particularly useful for readers with low vision.
Amazon's Kindle Keyboard has text to speech for eBook content, as well as audible menus. This means that those readers who rely on text to speech can navigate the device to enjoy more books.
Our eBooks compared information resource for blind and partially sighted readers explains the accessible features of a selection of devices.
Watch our film of what blind and partailly sighted users of eBooks think of them.
Different ways of reading
Text to speech
Text to speech software uses computer-generated synthetic speech to read out each word of an electronic file. No recording is made and there is no audio copy of the text created. Many readers benefit from this software, including people with low vision, who struggle to see the text, and people with dyslexia, who benefit from hearing the words read out to them while they read the text.
Screen reader
A screen reader is software that allows users to access the contents of a computer screen and navigate around its structure using synthetic speech. It is more advanced than text-to-speech, as it not only reads out digital text, it also provides navigational and structural information, allowing a reader who has little or no vision to navigate through the different sections of a document, website or computer program.
Electronic braille display
An electronic braille display is a tactile device that displays the contents of the screen as braille. A braille display can be made of varying amounts of braille 'cells', which include metal or nylon pins that move up and down electronically to reflect the text on screen.
Screen magnification
Screen magnification software can magnify the text, menus and icons on a computer screen up to 32 times. Many software packages also allow customisation of text and background colours to improve readability and contrast to suit individual readers needs.
Keyboard access
Keyboard access means you can use the keyboard to access all the controls and functions of the software, rather than the mouse. This supports people who use screen readers and people with low vision, as well as those who have reduced mobility or motor control.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software
If a book is not available in an accessible format, often readers need to buy the print book and then use OCR software in conjunction with a PC and scanner to copy printed text to the computer so it can be read by a screen reader or magnified with software.
Research
An independent research report on the needs of blind and partially sighted people from eBooks was commissioned by RNIB from i2 Media, and is available for download here.
Further information
Visit our eBook pages to find out more about how eBooks can meet the needs of blind and partially sighted people.
Read Leonie Watsons story of reading after sight loss.
Feedback
Has this information been useful to you? How have you used it?
If you require further information, or would or to let us know how we can improve this site, email publisheradvice@rnib.org.uk or call 020 7391 2150.