Mousecat

There are several other mice available such as the MouseCat produced by Haptic Technologies. Haptic Technologies has since been acquired by Immersion Corp.

This mouse was originally aimed at the visually impaired to allow them to operate a computer with a graphical display which could be felt via the mouse. The MouseCat is supplied with software which allows the user to interact with the Windows environment and extra sounds are played for the icons on the screen. This software is known as TouchWindows. Tests have shown that users learn Windows significantly faster when using this software.
The "MouseCat" and "PenCat" devices have the following technical characteristics:
Workspace: 125x75 mm;
Peak force: 10 newton;
Position resolution: 1500 dpi;
AD/DA Conversion: 16 bit AD / 12 bit DA;
Embedded 25 MHz Intel 386 microprocessor;
Internal loop frequency: 800 Hz;
Connection to the PC: RS 232 - data transfer freq. 100 Hz;
Force calculation: Visco-elastic model.

Voice Recognition Software

More recently, however, voice recognition software (VR) has improved to the point that, when coupled with additional software designed for the learning-disabled, students can become independent in their writing, possibly for the first time in their lives.
Recognition accuracy has significantly increased to the point where professional lawyers, doctors, translators, and court reporters utilize this technology in producing detailed, professional documents. As mainstream VR usage has skyrocketed, the increased demand has fueled more rapid technological improvements that benefit the disabled community as well.
In the past, dyslexic students could only become independent in utilizing DragonPro if, during an extensive initial training period, they had an aide or trainer assisting them. Keystone ScreenSpeaker (Keystone) has made Dragon Pro accessible for learning-disabled individuals. Keystone does several important things: First, it has special stories that are displayed in shorter phrases for the initial training in Dragon Pro. Keystone is able to read each phrase aloud to the student, so that he can use his own voice to repeat back what he hears rather than having to attempt to visually read the screen words in a fluent manner. Thus, initial training usually produces a highly usable voice file whereas learning disabled students who do not have the stories read to them often do not get any farther than an unsuccessful initial training period.

written by Laura and Caro