4 ms·

450 wpm. I can't even descipher 2 words out of that. It is amazing if he can understand that fast. Did his brain just rewire the visual cortex to process audio?

450 wpm. I can't even descipher 2 words out of that. It is amazing if he can understand that fast. Did his brain just rewire the visual cortex to process audio? Makes me wonder what a human would be with double the neurons in the brain.

thethirdone 9y ago
I was able to understand it reasonably well. I could understand it about as well as normal Spanish speaking (I took a few years of Spanish in high school); I can pick out the verbs, some nouns and guess the rest. With practice, I think I could understand it perfectly.
tyingq 9y ago
The use of the visual cortex for audio is a theory: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-can-some-blind-people-process/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-can-some-blin...
kzisme 9y ago
I read the article without listening to the provided clips and WOW. I'm not sure how people manage that. For anyone interested in UI/UX design for blind people Kevin Jones did a talk on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBuQLNIs1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBuQLNIs1c https://twitter.com/kevinrj?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://twitter.com/kevinrj?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%... He also has done some really cool stuff with the BrainPort: http://www.channel3000.com/news/local-news/madison-made-device-gives-the-blind-more-independence_20161114083330510/156395230 http://www.channel3000.com/news/local-news/madison-made-devi...
christiangenco 9y ago
I've been making a habit of listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and YouTube videos at increasingly faster speeds, and after listening to the clip two or three times can understand about 80% of it. My comprehension problem with it right now is the style of the voice, not the speed it's talking. Like anything, I think understanding this computer voice at 450 wpm is a skill anyone could learn with practice.
- stillhere 9y ago
  Though I'm not blind I would imagine it is like speedreading. Occasionally skipping words has no effect to the main idea of a sentence because the mind fills in the blanks. Anyway disability related tech news is very cool stuff and I hope to see a lot more on HN.
sushisource 9y ago
There's an episode of TNG with aliens called "Binars" and their speech sounds exactly like the screen reader. It always amazes me how prescient TNG was sometimes (although accidentally in this case) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/11001001_(episode) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/11001001_(episode)
srean 9y ago
Your comment provoked the intriguing thought that a visually impaired, hacker marine-biologist might be the demographics thats better prepared to understand orcas
stordoff 9y ago
After two or three listens, the only bit I couldn't make out was "(through a separate braille display) or synthetic speech". I imagine I could build up to that speed if I had to.

thethirdone 9y ago

I was able to understand it reasonably well. I could understand it about as well as normal Spanish speaking (I took a few years of Spanish in high school); I can pick out the verbs, some nouns and guess the rest. With practice, I think I could understand it perfectly.

tyingq 9y ago

The use of the visual cortex for audio is a theory: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-can-some-blind-people-process/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-can-some-blin...

kzisme 9y ago

I read the article without listening to the provided clips and WOW. I'm not sure how people manage that. For anyone interested in UI/UX design for blind people Kevin Jones did a talk on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBuQLNIs1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBuQLNIs1c https://twitter.com/kevinrj?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://twitter.com/kevinrj?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%... He also has done some really cool stuff with the BrainPort: http://www.channel3000.com/news/local-news/madison-made-device-gives-the-blind-more-independence_20161114083330510/156395230 http://www.channel3000.com/news/local-news/madison-made-devi...

christiangenco 9y ago

I've been making a habit of listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and YouTube videos at increasingly faster speeds, and after listening to the clip two or three times can understand about 80% of it. My comprehension problem with it right now is the style of the voice, not the speed it's talking. Like anything, I think understanding this computer voice at 450 wpm is a skill anyone could learn with practice.

stillhere 9y ago
Though I'm not blind I would imagine it is like speedreading. Occasionally skipping words has no effect to the main idea of a sentence because the mind fills in the blanks. Anyway disability related tech news is very cool stuff and I hope to see a lot more on HN.

sushisource 9y ago

There's an episode of TNG with aliens called "Binars" and their speech sounds exactly like the screen reader. It always amazes me how prescient TNG was sometimes (although accidentally in this case) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/11001001_(episode) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/11001001_(episode)

srean 9y ago

Your comment provoked the intriguing thought that a visually impaired, hacker marine-biologist might be the demographics thats better prepared to understand orcas

stordoff 9y ago

After two or three listens, the only bit I couldn't make out was "(through a separate braille display) or synthetic speech". I imagine I could build up to that speed if I had to.