Music for Visually Impaired - - - - Ideas?


OK 'goners - I come to you again for ideas to assist someone who is "equipment challenged". A friend, 93 year-old woman, with a great love for music but who's vision is deteriorating to the point of not being able to work equipment with lots small, poorly marked buttons. Although she's given away many of her records, she still has some and a bunch of cassette tapes too. But it's hard for her to read the cassette labels and she rarely endeavors to play her LP's. Her receiver has lots of little buttons, even for tuning. She doesn't need high end - low/mid end is fine. What she needs is simplicity and ease of access. I figure that we all have seen enough equipment over the years to know simple, well-built equipment that will still function well even if it's aging. Here's what I'm thinking:

1. A simple receiver with a big tuning dial and as few other buttons as possible. Volume control, selector switch (or row of buttons), and tone controls. I can "texture-code" various buttons so she knows what they are.

2. A simple tape deck - maybe top loading, with just the simple control buttons. Best if it auto-detects tape type and doesn't have any other fancy features. Simple front loading would work OK too. Again, I can texture code buttons.

3. She should alter her source material to mostly CD's, and get one of those CD jukebox things with as good ergonomics as possible. We could classify 1-10 Beethoven, 11-20 Brahms, etc. I could make her a book that has a very large print, readable index. My only concern is the many buttons on the remote for choosing disk numbers. But she can "memorize" a remote if needed. A big criteria would be the mental ergonomics of the control system.

Those are my ideas, maybe some of you know some better solutions. Also - Please recommend equipment that can be purchased for reasonable prices on ebay that meet the criteria. We all must have some memories of simple, clunky, well build equipment! She actually has plenty of money, but gives most of it away to charities. I don't want to be seeking expensive equipment for her - it just isn't her way. Receiver and tape deck should be relatively cheap.

Thanks.
peter_s

Showing 1 response by jdombrow

Here's one bit of advice that may help. I have an aunt in her 90's who's eyesight and physical coordination are deteriorating. She would accidently press the wrong button on the TV remote and loose all reception, and then not be able to get it back since she didn't know which button she had pressed.

I used some wooden matchsticks, plastic strips and tape to cover all of the non-essential buttons on the remote. When I was done she could only press the on/off, volume, and channel buttons.

Another suggestion is to talk with an organization that works with the blind. They will have many products and ideas that may be helpful.

JD