Braille is a basic communication technique used by people with visual impairments for writing and reading. Although it is almost 200 years old, the original code (6-dot braille cell for the representation of letters, numbers, signs) has been preserved until today. Braille is efficient and widely used worldwide. It is a unique writing system for the visually impaired. The latter is probably the reason why it has few modifications, although the texts in braille are very extensive and require the use of special printing techniques to ensure relief printing. Nevertheless, considering ways of shortening texts written in braille may contribute to less voluminous printed materials and consequently to faster reading. We are, of course, referring to modifications which, in a period of rapid technological progress, would certainly be easy to implement with a little creativity and an innovative approach. Perhaps, after 200 years, it is time to take advantage of the development of printing technologies, which show incredible progress and achievements, to modify braille as well.
The aim of the doctoral thesis was to shed light on the problem of texts written in braille and to create a new way of modifying braille, which is now possible with UV inkjet printing technology. The idea was born when the author wrote his master’s thesis and we wanted to explore its realization and the possibility of its use during the doctoral thesis. The basic idea of the modified braille is to omit the additional indicators for capital letters and numbers in texts, thus shortening the text written in braille. Of course, it was necessary to find a replacement for the marking of capital letters and numbers instead of indicators. We did this by overprinting an element that marks the first letter of a word that has to be written in the text with capital letters. We did the same for numbers, except that we overprinted an element with a different shape, as explained below.
The research was divided into three parts, using two printing materials, different types of test methods and image analysis to evaluate unprinted and printed printing material, and the prints of conventional, unmodified and modified Braille. An important part of the research was also the user test of printed texts in conventional, unmodified and modified Braille, which was carried out by a total of 20 blind people.
The image analysis of printed samples of unmodified and modified Braille confirmed that high quality overprints of modified braille can be produced with a UV inkjet printer and that overprints of elements enabling the distinction between capital letters and numbers are visually adequate, recognizable and of sufficient quality to enable users to distinguish them. No major irregularities have been observed in the prints, however, attention must be taken when producing digital originals, where the dimensions of the dots must be slightly larger, as the braille dots decrease in volume (shrink) during the solidification (polymerization) of the ultraviolet (shorter UV) printing ink.
In the preliminary research, the focus was on the recognition of the modified braille, which consists of basic braille dots with additionally printed elements. The modified braille was produced from a different number of printed layers. We found that 3 embossed layers of basic braille dots and 3 to 5 embossed layers of overprints are sufficient to correctly recognize modified braille, and that not all overprinted elements are recognizable.
In secondary research, following the results of the preliminary research, we focused on only two types of overprinted elements (small dot and vertical line), which were also distinctively recognizable in tactile reading. The modified braille dots were printed with 3 embossed layers of unmodified basic dots and 3 to 5 embossed layers of overprints. In this part of the research, the shape of the basic unmodified dot was also taken into account, as the preliminary research revealed that sharper edges had a positive effect on recognition. For this purpose, we produced unmodified and modified braille in two cross-sectional shapes of basic braille dots. The results showed that the selected line and dot are recognizable and distinguishable, and that with 3 embossed layers of basic braille dot and 3 embossed layers of overprints, we obtained a dot height that is suitable for both the (standardized) height and for testing blind people who recognized the modified dots as readable. The latter also assessed both cross-sectional shapes of the braille dot, round and square, with square being somewhat rougher for the fingertips, and were therefore excluded from further research.
In the main research, we printed learning boards and texts. We printed the conventional braille printed with embossing technique and the unmodified and modified braille with a UV inkjet printer. In the texts we used braille dots with a small dot overprint – these represented capital letters, and braille dots with overprinted line, representing a number. The test subjects were first taught modified braille, then we compared the reading speed and quality of modified braille with conventional braille. We found that the reading speed and quality (number of errors per text read) of modified braille was comparable to conventional braille, and that the test subjects were satisfied with the feel, height and recognition of modified braille.
The results of our research suggest the possibility of using modified braille in practice, although we are aware that such changes take time. Although blind people could certainly learn modified braille quickly, there is still an obstacle in UV inkjet printing technology, as it does not allow such text production as embossing or other finishing techniques. Nevertheless, we should remain optimistic. Modified braille, which could be further upgraded into areas of mathematical equations, scores, chemical formulas, etc., certainly has a future.
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