Electronic braille music training device

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of teaching the blind, and more particularly to electronic Braille music training devices. The present training device comprises, arranged inside a housing, a speaker, a rechargeable battery and a microprocessor which is connected to keys and buttons, as well as to the speaker, to a memory card, to a Braille symbol input keyboard and to the rechargeable battery via a voltage regulator. The speaker is arranged on the front face of the housing. A volume adjustment button, an ON / OFF button, a power supply socket for the rechargeable battery, an input socket for headphones and a power indicator are arranged on a side face of the housing. Keys for inputting Braille symbols are arranged on the keyboard. The training device provides ease of use, comfort and an ergonomic design for Braille music learning, while also allowing visually-impaired or blind users to self-learn Braille musical notation.

Description

[0001] Electronic and musical Braille trainer

[0002] The invention relates to the field of typhlopedagogy, namely to electronic-musical Braille trainers, and can be used to teach visually impaired and blind people Braille musical literacy at home or in various educational, medical, rehabilitation and preventive institutions.

[0003] An electronic Braille alphabet trainer is known, which comprises a housing with a front panel and a microcontroller installed in the housing, to which a line for reading the character-forming elements of the Braille code, located on the front panel, and navigation and functional buttons are connected. Moreover, the line for reading the character-forming elements of the Braille code is located in the lower left part of the front panel of the housing, and a line for entering character-forming elements of the Braille code, connected to the microcontroller, is located in the lower right part of the front panel of the housing, wherein the navigation buttons are located above the line for reading the character-forming elements of the Braille code, and functional buttons are located to the right of the navigation buttons. In this case, the navigation and functional buttons are designed as a film keyboard. A USB port, a port for a memory card, an adapter for powering from the electrical network, and a battery are also connected to the microcontroller / RU 2660007 C1, 04.07.2018 / .

[0004] The disadvantages of this analogue are low indicators of convenience, comfort and ergonomics when teaching visually impaired and blind people the Braille alphabet without outside assistance.

[0005] The closest analogue in technical essence to the claimed invention is an electronic alphabetical Braille trainer, including a sound speaker, a rechargeable battery and a microprocessor located in a housing, connected to keys and buttons, in which the microprocessor is connected to the sound speaker, a memory card and a keyboard for entering Braille characters, as well as to the rechargeable battery through a voltage stabilizer, and the sound speaker is located on the front side of the housing / KZ4186 U, published 19.07.2019 / .

[0006] The disadvantages of this analogue are limited functionality and the impossibility of using the simulator for teaching visually impaired and blind people Braille musical literacy without outside assistance.

[0007] The objective of the invention is to develop an electronic and musical Braille trainer for teaching visually impaired and blind people at home without assistance or in various educational, medical, rehabilitation and preventive institutions.

[0008] The technical result is the convenience, comfort, and ergonomics of the trainer for teaching Braille musical literacy, thanks to the unique arrangement of the trainer's keys, and the ability for visually impaired and blind people to self-teach the Braille musical alphabet without outside assistance, thanks to the automation of the electronic trainer.

[0009] This is achieved by the fact that the electronic-musical Braille trainer includes a sound speaker, a battery and a microprocessor located in the housing, which is connected to the keys and buttons, the sound speaker, a memory card, a keyboard for entering Braille symbols and the battery through a voltage stabilizer, wherein the sound speaker is located on the front side of the housing, and the volume control button, the on / off button of the trainer, the power socket of the battery and the input socket for headphones are located on the end side of the housing, according to the invention, a power indicator is located on the end side of the housing, the keys for entering Braille symbols are located on the keyboard in the order as shown in Figure 2.

[0010] The electronic-musical Braille trainer is additionally equipped with:

[0011] - a power indicator located on the end side of the simulator body;

[0012] - a battery power socket located on the end side of the exercise machine body;

[0013] - a headphone input jack located on the end side of the simulator body;

[0014] - a volume control button located on the end side of the simulator body;

[0015] - the on / off button of the simulator on the end side of the body.

[0016] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the operation of the electronic-musical Braille trainer for sesual learners, in which the following elements are indicated:

[0017] A - microprocessor; B - voltage stabilizer; C - sound speaker; D - Braille input keyboard; E - memory card; F - battery.

[0018] Figure 2 shows a drawing of the design of an electronic-musical Braille trainer for sesual learners, in which the following elements are designated: 1 - housing; 2 - sound speaker; 3 - power indicator; 4 - Braille character input keys; 5 - battery power jack; 6 - headphone input jack; 7 - volume control button; 8 - trainer on / off button.

[0019] The invention is carried out as follows.

[0020] The electronic-musical Braille trainer includes a microprocessor (A) located in the housing (1) connected to a sound speaker (C), a memory card (E) and a keyboard for entering Braille symbols (D), as well as to a battery (F) through a voltage stabilizer (B), wherein the sound speaker (C) is located on the front side of the housing (1).

[0021] The operating principle of the electronic-musical Braille trainer (for teaching music literacy) is that it produces a sound corresponding to the length of a note after pressing the corresponding key with the note symbol or musical notation (4), thereby teaching Braille music literacy to a visually impaired or blind person electronically. Pressing the key (4) again results in an explanation of the note or musical notation. The trainer is turned on by pressing the trainer's power button (8), located on the end of the trainer's housing (1). Using the volume control buttons (7) of the speaker (2), the visually impaired or blind person can adjust the sound level of the Braille symbols to a comfortable level. If necessary, the visually impaired or blind person can use headphones. To do this, connect the headphone plug to the headphone input jack (6), located on the end of the trainer's housing (1).If the exercise machine's battery is discharged, connect the power cord plug to the battery power socket (5) located on the end of the exercise machine's housing (1). The power indicator (3), located on the end of the exercise machine's housing (1), will begin to flash (and make a sound) if the battery is critically low.

[0022] The uniqueness of this trainer is that the keys with musical note symbols and Braille signs (4) are arranged as shown in Figure 2. Thanks to this arrangement, a visually impaired or blind person can quickly learn Braille musical literacy.

[0023] The proposed device (for the Kazakh, Russian, and English alphabets) was developed in response to requests from practitioners working with visually impaired students. Visually impaired teachers from special schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan actively participated in the testing process, with their consultations essential to addressing the special educational needs of blind students that arise during the acquisition of reading and writing skills. Leading scientists and special educators from the country discussed the device's operating principle and its use in the traditional educational process at special schools. Practical testing of the developed device was conducted at the Regional Specialized Boarding School for Children with Visual Impairments of the Atyrau Regional Education Department, the Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Atyrau City Community Services.The results of a pilot study of this device in teaching literacy to blind schoolchildren demonstrate its high didactic effectiveness and ease of use. The time required to learn the raised-dot alphabet has been significantly reduced, the number of student errors during learning has decreased, and additional methods for reinforcing and developing students' skills have emerged.

[0024] Results of the implementation of the declared device into the educational process.

[0025] School: Atyrau Region Department of Education, "Regional Specialized Boarding School." Implementation period: January to May 2022. The visually impaired teacher who used the device in the educational process was Zaydolla Sairagul Baltabekkyzy.

[0026] Characteristics of visually impaired children's reading are: a slower pace (approximately 2-2.5 times compared to children with normal vision); difficulty in instantly perceiving a word as a whole (reading according to the "running line" principle); skimming and search reading takes a significant amount of time; inappropriateness of tasks such as "find and write out from the text" (words can be written down from dictation after familiarization with the text); extreme inconvenience of using tables and diagrams; difficulty in effectively using dictionaries to work with vocabulary;

[0027] Traditional English-language reading instruction for visually impaired children typically includes four stages: an introductory oral phonetic course; learning grapheme and phoneme pairs; learning reading rules; and reinforcing skills. The proposed device was introduced into the curriculum at a special boarding school from January to May 2022. Seven blind students participated in the study. All visual impairments and related conditions of these students are presented in Table 1.

[0028] Table 1

[0029] Visual and related disorders

[0030] The previously presented step-by-step pedagogical diagnostics were used to assess the development of basic non-verbal skills. The study's results can be used in teaching practice when developing work programs and individual educational pathways for blind students, as well as when developing methodological recommendations for teaching Braille writing and reading. They can also be used in curricula aimed at training specialists, bachelor's and master's degree students in higher education institutions, and in professional retraining of teachers working with blind children, as well as in the advanced training of teachers working with blind children and specialists in inclusive education.

[0031] Possible reasons for the delay in the development of full age-appropriate reading skills may include concomitant diseases: cerebral palsy, mental retardation, speech disorders, and others.

[0032] Objective reasons for a child's delay must be taken into account when assigning a grade for reading proficiency. For example, if a student stutters and cannot read fluently without breaking words, this must be recorded on their personal reading proficiency chart, as well as on the overall reading proficiency progress chart.

[0033] The proposed device was introduced into the educational process for seven visually impaired children at a specialized boarding school. The device was first used from January to May 2022. Ninety percent of the students quickly and easily learned to read using the device. Two of these students—second-grade student Daulet A. and ninth-grade student Baurzhan A.—had a more complex and lengthy learning process because they have underlying medical conditions.

[0034] The results of training using the declared device for 7 blind children are reflected in Table 2.

[0035] Table 2

[0036]

[0037] The results of testing the proposed device demonstrated its effectiveness in teaching reading to blind students with comorbidities. The device facilitates faster acquisition of reading skills by students, easing the workload of the visual impairment teacher and facilitating and accelerating the process of teaching reading to blind students.

Claims

Invention formula 1. An electronic and musical Braille trainer, comprising a sound speaker, a rechargeable battery and a microprocessor located in a housing, which is connected to keys and buttons, a sound speaker, a memory card, a keyboard for entering Braille symbols and a rechargeable battery through a voltage stabilizer, wherein the sound speaker is located on the front side of the housing, and a volume control button, an on / off button for the trainer, a power socket for the rechargeable battery and a headphone input socket are located on the end side of the housing, characterized in that a power indicator is located on the end side of the housing, keys for entering Braille symbols are located on the keyboard in the order shown in Figure 2.

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