This article is from WeChat official account:Love Faner (ID: ifanr) , author: SCIENGE head from FIG: visual China
Before, a friend of mine has been giving me an Amway blind massage, saying it can heal the body and mind.
I often feel sore in my shoulders and necks. I naturally accepted my friend Amway. After a long time of grinning low voices, I felt comfortable after a long absence, and became a frequent visitor of massage parlors for the blind.
I went more often and found some unusual phenomena. Although the masseurs in the store have varying degrees of visual impairment, they did not prevent them from using mobile phones, whether they are young people in their early twenties. He is still nearly fifty years old, and he is quite proficient with smart phones.
Furthermore, the mobile phone screen reading voices played by several masters are extremely fast, almost beyond the speed that supernormal people can understand. Under curiosity, I chatted with a few masters about their Internet life.
1. 3 times faster Internet life
“Get used to it. If the playback speed is too slow, you will soon become irritable.”
The person in the shop called Uncle Li by the masters said to me during the break that he was in his forties and was quite agile with his smart phone. When he swiped his fingers, the phone interface and screen reading The voice changes quickly, unlocking, opening the reading software, and playing all in one go.
Uncle Li who is resting
Uncle Li is still a two-player party, both iPhone and Android. Generally, iPhone is used for communication and Android is used for entertainment.
There are 5 masseurs in the store, all of whom have varying degrees of visual impairment and need to rely on hearing to use smartphones. Regarding the accelerated playback of the screen reader software, although the expressions of several masters were inconsistent, the general idea was basically the same as that of Uncle Li.
Junwen Huang who is resting
“If you don’t read, hurry up, this accessible software won’t work. It delays work and life. Reading is slow and it takes more time”, Huang Junwen’s massage master explained to me.
Double-speed playback occupies an extremely important position in the Internet life of the visually impaired. When Netflix announced that it would launch a double-speed playback function, although it caused opposition from Hollywood authors, the American Association of the Blind and the Deaf-Mute Association expressed their support , I think this is very friendly to the visually impaired.
Netflix supports 1.5 times playback
According to Uncle Li, the playback speed of Android screen reading software is generally 10 gears. When you first use your smartphone, it will be set to the 7th gear. After a long time, it will be adjusted to the maximum gear-10 gears.
How many times is the normal speech rate from 10 files?
The answer is 3 times, which is far beyond the speed of speech that ordinary people can understand. Previous studies have found that when the speech speed is adjusted to 1.8 times, people’s comprehension ability does not decrease. The ability to understand will continue to decline beyond this number.
Long-term training allows Uncle Li to fine-tune their intensity while also improving their hearing.
During the chat, I also found that Uncle Li did not use the barrier-free screen reading function that comes with the phone, but used third-party software. This software needs to be purchased at a price of about 250 yuan.
Partial screenshots of third-party screen reading software
The reason for choosing third-party screen reading software and not using the system’s own accessibility features is that, on the one hand, the Android brand is complicated, and each mobile phone manufacturer has different accessibility screen reading features, plus the model and system More, it is not conducive to the visually impaired to choose to study.
On the other hand, third-party software, which specializes in the visually impaired and the elderly, does a good job in terms of functionality. Many masters, including Uncle Li, have said that they are used to it.
While talking, Uncle Li showed me his Internet life. WeChat, Alipay, and QQ are all commonly used software, and occasionally buy something online.
As for entertainment, in addition to listening to novels, everyone will also play poker and mahjong games. During the period, Uncle Li repeatedly emphasized to me that it is not too difficult to use a mobile phone. He has been using a smartphone for almost 7 years.< strong>The software that ordinary people use, they are also using it.
“In fact, it’s the same as you use your mobile phone. It’s not so different, but you can do it once, we need to click more.”
Use the narration function to read the screen and browse products
While speaking, Uncle Li quickly swipes and taps the screen again to stop playing the novel, and is ready to set a countdown for the next hour and continue working.
For ordinary people, the value of double-speed playback is mostly reflected in the drama, skipping the water injection plot, and speeding up the playback speed to improve efficiency. For Uncle Li, this is more like a necessity for Internet life. .
Second, easy to learn
Uncle Li has been in Guangzhou for 4 years. His life experience of leaving home for many years has given him a good understanding of electronic products. In the era of functional computers, Uncle Li was also one of the first people to eat crabs in his hometown. If it is not popular, he can only rely on his memory to memorize the contact information of friends and relatives.
“At that time, you had to memorize the phone numbers of more than 100 people at most, otherwise you would have to ask someone to save the number in your phone. After you have a screen reader, you don’t have to bother others. I don’t really like to learn.Learning, otherwise there will be more. ”
The love of learning in Uncle Li’s mouth refers to his other colleague-Huang Junwen.
Huang Junwen
Huang Junwen has been using smartphones since 2013, and now uses an iPhone 6s. Compared with other colleagues, he loves to explore and learn how to use Internet products. After buying iPhone 6s, he fumbled for two or three days It can be used smoothly.
At the same time, Huang Junwen is also a rare person who can use computers among several masters.
Of course, like Android, you have to pay to install screen reading software on Windows computers. The price of Yongde screen reading software purchased by Huang Junwen before is about 1,200 yuan.
With a computer, Huang Junwen’s entertainment life is richer than that of other colleagues. Generally, he will search for various novels and music on the Internet, and occasionally write and write on the computer.
As a frequent visitor to a massage shop, I have learned that in-store billing and charges are basically through WeChat, which can be solved by mobile phones. What else should I use a computer to record?
“Usually I will record some of the mobile phone usage skills I have explored. Some people can learn from what I wrote, and some people like to ask. These simple tutorials can also speed up their learning Efficiency.”
This situation is not an isolated case. Huang Junwen told me that in their blind circle, there are many people who will learn and explore. They have formed a WeChat group of more than 300 people, and they will share tutorials and learn electronic products in the group. How to use it.
The most talked about product in the circle isiPhone, Apple started earlier in accessibility, and is more well-known in the circle. Learning costs and migration costs are relatively low. In Uncle Li’s words, “80% of the visually impaired in the circle use iPhones. “.
No need to install software, whether you use Siri or directly press the key to evoke the narration (VoiceOver) function, the screen reading operation is more convenient, single-finger swipe Switching buttons, reading the screen, three-finger sliding to switch menus, and easy-to-understand interaction logic are also reasons why the visually impaired choose iPhone.
In addition to screen reading software, Siri is also a good helper for Huang Junwen
When using the iPhone’s screen reading function to narrate, Huang Junwen often sets the iPhone’s screen brightness to a very low setting, which is generally difficult to see clearly. This is done to save power on the one hand, and the battery life of the iPhone 6s is not long.
On the other hand, this is also one of the ways for the visually impaired to protect their privacy. Passwords, WeChat chat content, shopping records, etc., cannot be seen clearly under extremely low brightness. Only they can use “3 times faster “The way to hear your own privacy.
Of course, the iPhone is not perfect. For example, when taking selfies and uploading ID photos, Huang Junwen can’t see clearly, so it’s not easy to align the frame with himself or ID photos, and it’s not aimed at the screen reader software. Also, misaligned messages will not be played.
It takes multiple shots and alignments to complete each time. Later, Huang Junwen thought of another way to alleviate this problem slightly. With a higher pixel mobile phone, such as iPhone 11, the pass rate will be significantly improved.
In terms of smart travel, the road between the dormitory and the massage shop can be remembered without error, and there are staff to help you take the subway, but it is still not easy to buy train tickets online. Huang Junwen told me that his mobile phone can use 12306 , Can also read the screen correctly, but at the final purchase step, it just can’t be clicked.
Finally, relying on groping and learning, I switched to another “Handheld Train Ticket” app to buy train tickets.
Previously, Phoenix Reviews tested 31 commonly used apps, and found that QQ, Taobao, Baidu Maps, WeChat Pay, Ele.me, Tencent News, Station B, QQ Music, etc. are relatively easy to use. Travel software Yixingtong is not doing a good job of accessibility support.
Huang Junwen also expressed similar opinions. In mainstream applications, communication, payment, e-commerce and other applications do better in barrier-free support, but the app experience in food delivery and travel is not too good. They often have to explore and learn by themselves.
There are many cases like this. The barrier-free industry has been developing for many years, and the screen reading software is constantly improving, but to live a better Internet life, it is still inseparable from Huang Junwen’s independent learning and sharing.
3. Technology creates more possibilities
After learning that I work for a technology media and have a certain understanding of Apple’s equipment and services, Huang Junwen’s emotions were obviously raised a lot. He shared a lot of gameplay stories and some understanding of the technology industry with me .
Shortly after the iPhone 11 was released, Huang Junwen went to experience this new machine, and finally did not buy it. The reason was the Intel baseband. He believed that the iPhoThe signal performance of ne 11 is still slightly worse than that of iPhone 6s.
Before the iPhone XR lacked the 3D Touch function, which caused a lot of discussion. Huang Junwen is also one of the followers of 3D Touch. Long press the app to display the shortcut menu. This function is very obvious in their lives. important.
After all, nowadays app functions are becoming more and more complex, with more and more text and buttons, especially e-commerce shopping software. It takes a lot of time for Huang Junwen to buy a thing, and opening the payment code to pay has to go through several levels. Pressing the 3D Touch that can scan the code can solve this problem.
Fortunately, after Apple cancelled 3D Touch, it added the Haptic Touch function with similar functions to the new machine. This is good news for the visually impaired.
“Did you watch iOS 14, this time the narration (VoiceOver) updated a lot of new features and became more usable Yes, I upgraded my phone immediately.”
The narration on iOS 14 introduces a new recognition function. iPhone can support narration support for apps or web pages without built-in accessibility functions to realize screen reading.
In Huang Junwen’s words, “Nowadays, most large companies such as Tencent and Alibaba will add accessibility support to their apps, but there are still many small and medium-sized companies that do not adapt.” This update of iOS 14 The visually impaired people are of great significance.
At the same time, the narration also has the function of recognizing pictures and text in the picture. The system can automatically recognize the text in the app or webpage picture.