Project ‘Audio Books’

Audio recording books for the blind

(with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled)

Please visit www.samarthanam.org to know more about the organization

 Project ‘Audio Books’: About

 An attempt to introduce Literature to the Blind – to satisfy the curious minds

 An initiative by volunteers in association with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled

 Most of the visually impaired are not familiar with Braille

 Audio books are available in regional languages – the English literature books are
in western accent making it difficult for students to follow
 As per the information available with us, while there are lot of academic audio
books available, there is a dearth of general books
 Project ‘Audio Books’: Braille?

 Cost: Braille is more expensive

 Time: Time taken to copy one book from another is longer

 Accessibility: Not all visually impaired are trained in Braille. Moreover, an audio
book is helpful for a dyslexic and other print-media challenged also
 Longevity: The dots in braille wear off faster than a CD/Audio file

 Convenience: While an audio book can be carried on CDs, MP3 players and
computers easily, books in braille are bulky and inconvenient
 Greater Reach: Audio books not only helps with vocabulary but it also helps
pronunciation and can also be used for collective learning
 Project ‘Audio Books’: Projects so far?

 Successfully recorded 2 books so far

 In the process of recording 5 books

 Production tool used for recording: Obi

 Number of volunteers involved: 6

 All the volunteers receive 1-hour long training before starting the recording process

 Goal: To have a library with a minimum of 30 books by the end of 2015

 Next steps: To explore the possibility of creating copies to make the books
available to more people who need them
 Possibility: Can explore setting up an open-source audio library