What it does
Over 200 million people worldwide have visual impairments, many of whom are parents. Picture books often create barriers in shared reading. PATA empowers blind parents with sound, allowing them to be storytellers and emotional companions to their children.
Your inspiration
While reading a post by Bonnie Peterson on the National Federation of the Blind website, she wrote, “I wished someone could read braille to me.” Her father couldn’t read storybooks to her, and it struck me deeply. Children in visually impaired families, like Bonnie, often miss out not only on books but on bonding. Although many assistive reading tools exist, few focus on the emotional need for blind parents to tell stories to sighted children. PATA fills this gap by giving storytelling power back to parents, letting love be heard beyond sight.
How it works
PATA consists of three core modules: a hand-worn device, a Bluetooth headset, and a picture book with an embedded NFC chip. Each page of the book has an NFC tag, and when the parent turns the page, the sensor module on the hand reads the tag, retrieves content from the local audio library, and plays it through the Bluetooth headset. The entire process does not rely on mobile phones or screens and is optimized for non-visual environments, offering intuitive operation, timely feedback, and a natural experience. The system supports speed adjustment, multi-language switching, and child-friendly tones, enhancing interaction and intimacy. The design also focuses on accurate page matching and interaction guidance by adding reading track cues in the book to help users identify their reading position.
Design process
I began by gathering insights from visually impaired parents and analyzing real-world parent-child reading situations. Three prototypes were developed: an NFC reader, a responsive book page, and a modular speaker system. Through role-play testing and contextual simulations, the final direction became a hand-worn reader paired with NFC-tagged books. The design was refined across multiple iterations, focusing on accurate page detection, comfortable wearability, and low-latency audio feedback. User testing confirmed that PATA significantly improved both the confidence and autonomy of blind parents during shared reading.
How it is different
Unlike braille readers or generic OCR tools, PATA is specifically designed for interactive storytelling. It emphasizes the parent’s role as a narrator, not just a listener—centering on expression, connection, and relational presence. It also requires no screens, smartphones, or Wi-Fi, making it ideal for low-resource settings and scalable for mass production at a low cost.
Future plans
Looking ahead, PATA will partner with international publishers to develop standardized, NFC-ready picture books. An open-source audio platform will also be built, allowing families to create their own voice recordings. We plan to integrate AI-generated speech and multi-language support to bring inclusive storytelling to visually impaired families across the globe.
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