Finger Braille Teaching System

Deafblindness is a condition that combines varying degrees of both hearing and visual impairment. All deafblind people experience problems with communication, access to information, and mobility. Deafblind people use many different communication media, depending on the age of onset of deafness and blindness and the available resources. For example, “deafblind manual alphabet” is a method of spelling out words onto a deafblind person's hand. Each letter is denoted by a particular sign or place on the hand. “Block” is a manual form of communication where words are spelled out on the palm of the deafblind person's hand. “Hands on signing” is based on sign language. With this system, the deafblind person follows the signs by placing his hands over those of the signer and feeling the signs formed. “Yubi-Tenji” (Finger Braille) is one of the tactual communication media developed by Satoshi Fukushima in Japan (see Fig. 1). In Finger Braille, the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of both hands function like the keys of a Braille typewriter. A sender dots Braille code on the fingers of a receiver as if typing on a Braille typewriter. The receiver is assumed to be able to recognize the Braille code. Deafblind people who are skilled in Finger Braille can understand speech conversation and express various emotions because of the prosody (intonation) of Finger Braille (Fukushima, 1997). Because there is such a small number of non-disabled people who are skilled in Finger Braille, deafblind people communicate only through an interpreter.