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Crawford Technologies Introduces New Technology Allowing Visually-Impaired Customers To Read Printed Pages

Tuesday 15. September 2015 - New smartphone application can save large organizations millions and provide state-of-the-art accessible documents to visually-impaired customers

Crawford Technologies announced today it has established a strategic partnership with Voiceye Inc. to bring their revolutionary new technology to the accessible document marketplace worldwide. Voiceye’s innovative technology allows people with visual or cognitive impairment the ability to read text from printed pages using a smartphone.

Voiceye is based on a patented, ultra-high-density barcode – smaller than a QR code – that can hold information from up to two pages on a printed document. Using a free smartphone app, Voiceye barcodes are scanned and allow visually-impaired users to read the printed document in large print/high contrast viewing, Braille, audio and translate languages.

“Voiceye is possibly the biggest breakthrough in accessible documents since Braille was invented by Louis Braille in 1821,” said Ernie Crawford, CEO of Crawford Technologies. “It essentially allows printers to create ‘talking paper.’ We are proud to be a part of this revolution and predict this new technology will improve and impact the lives of people all over the world.”

Crawford Technologies has created a new solution – ‘Voiceye Maker for Operations Express’ – that allows high-volume document producers to make their documents into fully accessible pages. ‘Voiceye Maker for Operations Express’ can be used to make documents accessible, significantly reducing the costs of creating documents in braille, large print, etext and audio from scratch.

“This is a major breakthrough for compliance with accessibility legislation, as well as a way to increase the value of printed documents in a world that is becoming increasingly computer and mobile dominated,” added Crawford.

More than 25 million Americans have visual or cognitive disabilities and a recent WebAIM survey showed that 82% of these people use mobile screen readers for accessibility needs.

Attendees at Graph Expo 2015 will be able to learn more about Voiceye technology during a free educational workshop hosted by CrawfordTech’s Document Accessibility Services (DAS) team on Sunday, September 13, 2015. The workshop will teach organizations about all types of accessible documents and show them how they can seamlessly integrate accessible documents into their customer communications.