A new mobile Android app is making it easier for blind and visually impaired individuals to count their money.
IDEAL Currency Identifier, a free app developed by Apps4Android through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), uses advanced image recognition technology to read the denomination of a bill and the app audibly announces how many dollars the note is worth.
The app can interact with Google’s “Eyes-Free” applications.
The new app is part of a larger effort by the U.S. federal government to give more monetary independence for the blind and visually impaired.
“[B]y using technology, we can help hundreds of thousands of individuals who are blind or visually impaired,” said Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios in a statement. “Our collaboration with the Department of Education allowed us to be resourceful and, in turn, more individuals will have the means to independently denominate the U.S. currency they use in daily commerce.”
A similar app, EyeNote, for Apple products was released last year and has more than 8,000 downloads.
Watch a demonstration of the app:
Download the app here.
