Reverse translation program from Thai braille into ink print

Abstract

Formerly, translation from Braille into ink print required a lot of time, people, resources, and cost. By one method, normal people who know Braille read and translate material into ink print, but there are few people with this ability. By another method, blind people read Braille and normal people record the material into ink print but this method requires more time and people. With computer technology, blind people can type Braille characters by using special equipment, Braille 'N Speak, that translate them into ink print. Braille 'N Speak translates quickly and reduces the resources, people, and cost required. Use of this method is not possible in the Thai language, however, because Braille 'N Speak cannot translate Thai Braille. This thesis attempts to develop microcomputer program for translating Thai Braille documents into ink print. In the first step, blind people typed Braille characters by using Braille 'N Speak. In the next step, Braille characters were sent from Braille 'N Speak and stored in files on a microcomputer. In the last step, a program was developed to read characters from those files, translate them into ink print and store them as text files. All Thai word processors such as CU Writer, RAJVITHEE Word, or Microsoft Word can work with this file format. The program was developed by using C programming language. It runs on DOS operating system and can operate with CU TALK for speech synthesizer and other special equipment such as Screen Reader and Braille Display for helping blind. About 8,216 Braille characters were tested to find the correct translation. Test results show that the program translates Braille characters into ink print accurately and quickly and it is easy for the blind to use.