EV News, a free web app for people with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, has been updated with even more features.
A new and improved version, the ‘EV-platform’, which will not only help people with macular disease read the news, but now allows them to read eBooks and emails as well as being able to copy and paste any text they wish to read.
Dame Judi Dench first started using the original version of EV News in 2018, which helped her to learn scripts and read articles.
She said: “The device developed by Robin at Royal Holloway University is enormously beneficial, as it allows you to read as fast or as slow as you want and has a focal point for you to concentrate on.
“It really is a huge help and I hope a lot of other people with AMD find it as beneficial as I do.”
The unique app presents text as a single scrolling line, like a news RSS feed, and was created by Professor Robin Walker, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, and is supported by the Macular Society.
It was designed to support the use of reading with the ‘eccentric viewing’ technique, whereby the text is presented as a single line that moves across the computer screen and the individual holds their gaze slightly away from the text that scrolls from right-to-left like a news ticker.
Professor Robin Walker said of his app: “Our research into reading in people with visual loss informed the development of this free reading aid and we are pleased to be able to make it widely available to people with macular degeneration.”
Jonathan Ward, Development Manager from Thomas Pocklington Trust, a charity for people with sight loss, is a fan of EV News which has enabled him to read to his children again, as well as loading his agenda and notes on the app for work.
The latest version is now available to download and is compatible with the latest versions of Chrome, Safari and Firefox on desktop, tablet and mobile.
For more information on how to access the reader, please visit www.ev-platform.org
The EV News reader was first created by Robin Walker, and Codica Ltd, a London-based digital product studio.
