As with most doctors we are constantly on the lookout for items we feel may help our patients. The Amazon kindle has been out for a few years now, however they recently upgraded it. The Amazon Kindle 2, holds a lot of promise for patients that have poor vision as a result of macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma or any ocular condition that impairs vision.
What I like the most about the kindle, for patients with low vision, is that it uses a high resolution screen with very high contrast letters, black print on a white background, just like a book, however, most importantly you can increase the size of the letters. Changing the font size is a great option for patients with impaired vision that want to read books. As you can see in the photo the Kindle is about the size of a paperback book, however it is as thin as a pencil, weighing in at just over 10 ounces, which is less than a paperback book.
Most new bestseller books are about $10, however many books are less than that. There are currently 250,000 titles in the Kindle library. It takes about 60 seconds to download a book wirelessly with the included wireless network (using Sprint’s Cellular Data Network), no WiFi necessary. The Kindle holds 1500 books, with your library backed up by Amazon, so if you have to make room for a book and years later want to reread it you just download it again at no charge.
I also like the kindle for patients that find it difficult to hold a heavy book or have a hard time turning the page such as those with MS or patients that have had a stroke. The Kindle also has a text to speech option so it can even read to you. Subscriptions to major newspapers are available as well.
Let me know what you think. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.
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We recently tested the the effectiveness of the Kindle for people with visual impairments in the AFB TECH product evaluation labs of the American Foundation for the Blind, and unfortunatly, the Kindle 2 falls short of meeting the needs of most people with visual impairments. the large print and other features that aid in the visual display of text are only available in the actual content of a book/magazine, and are not available in the rest of the Kindle’s interface. You are still faced with tiny 7 to 10 point fonts when purchasing books, choosing which book to read or using the search features of the Kindle 2. Plus the roughly 16 point font size available within a book’s content still falls short of the 18 point size recommended by the American Printing House for the Blind. The larger Kindle DX screen could perhaps accomodate larger fonts. We are also measuring the contrast of the display, and preliminary results show that the contrast is too low for most people with low vision. Furthermore, the text to speech feature of the Kindle 2 is absolutely of no use to a blind reader. It is a low quality synthetic voice that is again available only in a book’s content and not in the rest of the interface. Even worse, you have no navigation options with the speech other than starting and stopping reading, so you can’t even rewind in case you miss a passage. It also won’t spell words if you can’t understand the pronunciation of a word. The Kindle products certainly have great potential as long as the designers include more universal design features, but for now, it’s close but no cigar.
Thanks for posting your results. I would have to agree that the Kindle is far from perfect, after all it was not originally designed with low vision patients in mind. However, I do feel that it fills a valuable niche for some low vision patients and still shows great promise. The Kindle 2 with its larger screen may be able to show larger font sizes. In this case I would not throw out the baby with the bath water. The Kindle is much more portable and less expensive than the other options such as the desk mounted CCTV readers. Clearly we have no perfect option, but the Kindle is another valuable tool in our array of options and we must continue to evaluate the needs of each patient and tailor our recommendations to their needs.
hey – just wanted to add that amazon has stated on the official kindle blog that they’re working on making the menus accessible too.
i’ve been following the updates on my kindle blog and have a faq for low vision people about the kindle too, and its deifintely a good measure by Amazon.
one thing to be vary of is to actually try one out in person since the contrast is more akin to dark grey on very light grey, and not a pure black on white. so it works well if increasing the font size works well for you. however, it might not work that well if you have contrast vision problems.
- abhi
I have Stargardt’s Disease. Before last year reading books, especially paperback books as becoming harder and harder to do. Printing companies, in order to save paper and printing costs, have been increasingly printing books with smaller print on darker (recycled?) poorer quality paper.
Now I have my Kindle and reading, which was hard work, has now become one of the great joys of my life again. For some the price of the Kindle is to expensive. For me it has be a life changing gift, well worth the price.
This is an awesome device for those that are visually impaired. Once again, a great innovation on a simple idea.
Kindle has had great preliminary results with a friend who has peripheral vision loss as a result of stroke. He can now read the newspaper, something he was previously unable to do. Early results are that reopening him to reading may have all sorts of psychological benefits as well. Is there any clinical research on this?
Glad to hear you friend is doing well with the Kindle. I have not heard or read of any studies that use the Kindle. Maybe Amazon would like to provide some for a study
That’s a good idea.First, I want to watch my friend for a while just to monitor what’s going on. Did it really help? Does he keep it up? Are there really psychological benefits? Does it make his life better? How about his wife’s life? I’m a businessman, not a clinician, but gathering anecdotal evidence seems like a good first step. I’ll watch this site too just to hear what others say.
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Last year my brothers and I found a closed-circuit video reader for my mother who has macular degeneration in both eyes. Since buying it, her sight as deteriorated more, so she is no longer able to use the device. Truthfully, its bulk (big screen especially) and the fact that it is not portable was a limitation, even if she’d been able to continue to use it. She’s very excited at the prospect of something she could carry room to room. However, my brother recently put Sony’s competitor to the Kindle in her hands, and he reports the small interface/keys were hard for her to use/nagivgate. Is the Kindle’s better?
You have brought up some excellent points. The advantage of the closed circuit TV system is its lack of portability, however it can really magnify the print. The Kindle on the other hand has excellent portability, however the max print the last I checked was about 18 pt. which may not be big enough for some. If your mother can not read the print on the Sony reader I doubt the Kindle print would be much larger, if any. However, I have heard that Amazon is working on improving the size and making it more adaptable for low vision patients.
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I have a child that refuses to read due to his vision and the current printing. Would love to have this for him to read on, but unfortunately, two things hold me back. 1. The cost 2. Not much available for Elementary aged children.