Calculator ‘talks’ math to visually impaired
It appeals to the auditory,
the sight and the touch’
By JANE LEHMAN
Of the Emerald
Although it may not perform the
melodious rendition of "Daisy,
Daisy, give me your answer true,”
as Hal did in "2001: A Space
Odyssey,” "Speech Plus,” a talk
ing calculator, is having its say at
the College of Education.
In the monotonous tone charac
teristic of voice-imitating ap
paratuses, the calculator drones
out "two plus two equals four" to
aid blind children in conquering
mathematics.
One of the talking calculators
has reached the scrutiny of Bill
tamon, a University education
professor. Lamon is also director
of the University Psychological
Research Laboratory for
Mathematics Learning.
He is leading a five-member re
search team investigating the
newly devised product. Two
graduate research assistants,
Doug Shult and Ron MacGregor,
along with David Moursund, pro
fessor of computer sciences, and
Doug Carnme, professor of spe
cial education, are also involved.
Lamon acquired the talking
computer project through his own
efforts. "We are acting as an inde
pendent scientific research outfit
to measure the calculator s value
and limitations and to suggest
possible modifications.
The calculator was engineered
and constructed by Telesensory
Systems, Inc., in Palo Alto. Calif.
The company mainly produces
electronic devices for persons
with impaired vision. Christopher
Berg, the calculator product man
ager, has special interest in the
project since his wife is blind.
“It's not a thinking machine."
says Lamon, "it's an auditory out
put of the visual display.”
‘ Speech Plus" is slightly larger
than a hand-held calculator and
costs upwards of $350. It per
forms basic arithmetic functions,
stores them in its memory bank,
and announces the results with its
24-word vocabulary.
A few pecularities mark its ver
nacular. When the zero key is hit,
the gadget announces the letter
“o ”, while "swap" sounds to indi
cate the memory key. The
machine has no place value, so it
will recite ”9, 9, 9, 9” instead of
responding with "nine-thousand
nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine.“
The calculator relentlessly
points out the mistakes of too
many entries or illogical condi
tions with the admonition, "over
flow."
The machine also alerts the
operator that the battery is running
out by saying “low," whereas the
visual display light simply fails in
regular calculators.
On a cognitive level, blind chil
dren can just as readily acquire
math skills as others, says Lamon.
But problems arise due to the high
visual orientation used in teaching
arithmetic.
The blind benefit in terms of
time-saving, since they no longer
need to toil over inefficient braif
lers, while their sighted counter
parts whiz along with paper and
pencils, says Lamon.
He also emphasizes the “multi
modality nature of the tool. “It
appeals to the auditory, the sight
ana the touch,” he says
"Normally, a calculator is a
teaching aid. but for the blind it is a
learning aid, stresses Lamon
Currently the researchers are
Doug Shult and Ron MacGregor, graduate assis
tants, display a “talking calculator" they have been
Photo by Tonya Houg
researching. The talking calculator is used to aid
blind children as they cope with mathematics.
working under a $4,000 grant
awarded by the Oregon Mathema
tics Education Center. But Lamon
is actively seeking more grants to
carry on the research for a full
year.
The team will work closely with
the federal American Printing
House for the Blind, based in
Louisville, Ky., to determine and
meet educational needs. The clin
ical experiments will be tested on
41 candidates from Oregon who
are blind, but physically normal.
Lamon is particularly enthusias
tic about the international implica
tions of the talking calculator. “I'd
like to see that device produced in
• Bankruptcy no solution to student loans
By PETER LEIBIK
Of the Emerald
A new federal law scheduled to
go into effect this fall, prohibits
sutdents from declaring bank
ruptcy to avoid repayment of
guaranteed Student Loans.
The law states that except in
cases of extreme hardship, a stu
dent cannot declare bankruptcy
for five years after repayment was
to have begun
National Direct Student Loans
are exempt from the new law ac
cording to Health, Education and
Welfare legislative liaison Kathy
Adam
Don Chalmers, director of the
Office of Student Advocacy,
warns students should be aware
of the new law and the additional
responsibility when planning their
financial aid program.
Chalmers asks any student with
questions about the federal status
of a particular loan, check with his
office in the basement of the EMU.
VOTE
TODAY
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon State Scholarship
Commission reports that 6,602
guaranteed student loans totalling
$7.6 million have been made here
between July 1, 1976 and March
1, 1977.
James Renton, director of stu
dent loans for the commission,
said that of 85,327 guaranteed
student loans made here since the
program began in 1967, only 553
bankruptcies have been declared.
However, there have been
5,147 guaranteed student loan
defaults since 1967.
The state of Oregon, through
the State Scholarship Commis
sion. pays off the lender, which in
most cases is a commercial bank,
and works out a new repayment
schedule with the student.
The commission has recovered
$827,000 of the S3.9 million in de
faulted loans it has paid off.
French. Spanish — you name it,
he says.
This is not Lamon s first venture
into pioneering math aids for the
blind. He began working with the
sightless three years ago. He has
since collaborated with a Belgian
r
mathematician to develop a non
electronic device that bears his
name, the Papy-Lamon
Mimicomputer for the Blind.
But for the present, perhaps
Lamon can shed some sound on a
problem plaguing the blind.
1
SPECIAL
SUNDAY
NIGHT
5:30 TO CLOSING
BOWLING 3 games/$1.00
BILLIARDS $ 1.20/hour
EMU
RECREATION CENTER
Read the Emerald
^(c7rpb>rp)
X
c
A NOVEL BY ROB SWIGART
If you liked Tom Robbin's Even Cowgirls Get The
Blues, you’ll Love Little Ame/ica by Rob Swiggart.
A clean-cut American boy's dogged attempts to blow up his father’s
Cadillac collide with a blackmail plot surrounding the secret ingredient of a
giant fast-foods chain, Little America erupts in a Fourth-of-July
combustion of lustful misalliances, mechanical screw-ups. kaleidoscopic
orgies, venality. True Love, and loud, liberating laughter.
In paperback $3.95 Tradebook section
Ur s-\ r~> 1 1 13 at Kincaid
OT O bookstore Phone 686-4331
Page 3 Section A