Telesensory Systems, Inc. (TSI) (later'' TeleSensory Corporation'') was an American corporation that invented, designed, manufactured, and distributed technological aids for blind and

low vision Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

persons. TSI's products helped

visually impaired Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

people work independently with computers and with ordinary printed materials.

History

The

Optacon The Optacon (OPtical to TActile CONverter) is an electromechanical device that enables blind people to read printed material that has not been transcribed into Braille. The device consists of two parts: a scanner which the user runs over the mater ...

, TSI's first product, was conceived by

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Professor John G. Linvill as a means for his blind daughter, Candy, to read ordinary print. The Optacon development, led by James C. Bliss, involved dozens of engineers and scientists at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and at Stanford Research Institute (now

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...

) starting in 1962. Following the successful demonstration of a functional prototype in 1969, TSI was founded in 1970 in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

, California, USA. TSI developed a line of products for blind people during the 1970s, and expanded into the low vision field in 1984. TSI's products for blind people employed either tactile or auditory means of conveying information; its low vision products increased the size and contrast of printed material or computer screen images. Some TSI products consisted of software only, but most also needed custom electronics hardware. For thirty-five years TSI provided electronic assistive devices to visually impaired persons worldwide. Concurrently computer technology improved and computer operating systems began to incorporate accessibility options such as speech

screen readers A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blind, and are useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or ha ...

or magnification for no cost. Having changed its name to "TeleSensory", the company shifted its focus to low visions products and stopped manufacturing blindness products in the early 1990s. In March, 2005, TeleSensory, the former TSI, abruptly declared

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

and all its employees were escorted from the building. In August, 2005, InSiPhil (S) Pte Ltd. of Singapore purchased TeleSensory's intellectual property and remaining assets and resumed production of some of the low vision products under the name and logo of TeleSensory. As of early 2010, these products are available in 50 countries.

Selected products for blind people

, 1970 (

tactile Tactile may refer to: * Tactile, related to the sense of touch * Haptics (disambiguation) * Tactile (device), a text-to-braille translation device See also * Tangibility, in law * Somatosensory system, where sensations are processed * CD96 CD ...

facsimile machine for reading ordinary print) * Speech+ Calculator, 1975 (calculator with synthesized speech output) * VERT, 1979 (speech output

screen reader A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blindness, blind, and are useful to people who are visual impairment, visually ...

for computer access) * VersaBraille, 1979 (personal computer with

refreshable braille display A refreshable braille display or braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying braille characters, usually by means of round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. Visually impaired computer users who cannot use a s ...

) * OsCar, an

optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scen ...

speech output reading machine

Selected products for visually impaired people

* Vista (screen enlarger for computer access) * Vantage (closed-circuit TV magnifier for print or images) * Aladdin ( video magnifier) * PICO (handheld video magnifier)

References

Blindness equipment Assistive technology Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy {{tech-company-stub