In recent time, the popularity of audio books have increased among visually impaired people. They say it is not just more convenient but also time saving compared to Braille.
Venkata, Visually impaired compared audio books with Braille books said, “We can read textbooks by listening to it. It is more convenient than Braille. As Books written in Braille takes a lot of time to read. Each line has to be read and written and even a single mistake makes us re-read the sentences. While in audio format we only have to read it.”
Printing in Braille is very costly, and becomes double the size of normal book, the Braille will be double or triple the size. Making it inconvenient both to carry and read. Thus, we prefer audio books over Braille. These audio books can be stored in phone and can be easily read even before exams.
Most of these books are recorded either by trusts or by volunteers and are distributed free of cost to help visually impaired people. But these audio books are less popular among people of rural areas, says Pallavi Acharya, a social activist.
Pallavi Acharya, Social worker said, “The only inconvenience with a lot of audio books are that they are recorded in US or UK accent of English and for students of rural areas, it becomes difficult to catch the accent.”
