[texhax] TeX for the blind

William Adams will.adams at frycomm.com
Fri Dec 8 15:47:32 CET 2006


On Dec 7, 2006, at 12:12 PM, Glenn Ledder wrote:

> Do you know of any software that can produce TeX output that can be  
> read by
> a screen reader, such as JAWS, or that can produce Braille output?

Not a .pdf, no. I think there may've been research on Braille --- but  
isn't there a special notation / extension for math done in Braille  
(Nemeth?)?

Some discussion of this here:
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itdv01n4/article8.htm

But it's 12 years old? Here's a company doing something along these  
lines: http://www.duxburysystems.com (Windows only apparently).

This sort of thing may get better for .pdfs once the Stixfonts  
( http://www.stixfonts.org/ ) are available, but even then will  
probably need improvements in screen reader support ('cause I'm not  
convinced that they'll read out a superscripted ``2'' as ``squared'').

As a test on that, try a .pdf of $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$ --- someone needs  
to teach these screen reader folks that the Pythagorean theorem is  
_not_ ``a2 plus b2 equals c2''.

Really though, (La)TeX source is quite readable and concise and a  
reasonably linear representation, so should be suitable for use by a  
screen reader if it'll accept plain text files.

William

-- 
William Adams
senior graphic designer
Fry Communications



This email message and any files transmitted with it contain information
which is confidential and intended only for the addressee(s). If you are
not the intended recipient(s), any usage,  dissemination, disclosure, or
action taken in  reliance on it is prohibited.  The reliability of  this
method of communication cannot be guaranteed.  Email can be intercepted,
corrupted, delayed, incompletely transmitted, virus-laden,  or otherwise
affected during transmission. Reasonable steps have been taken to reduce
the risk of viruses, but we cannot accept liability for damage sustained
as a result of this message. If you have received this message in error,
please immediately delete it and all copies of it and notify the sender.


More information about the texhax mailing list