Technology allows users to turn pages by blinking

This simple yet smart technology could help several different areas of society read with greater ease and independence.

Spotted: Springwise has spotted various innovations in recent times that focus on streamlining education processes. Developers created a new font that aids memory loss, to improve revision efficiency. A streaming service has offered students cheaper access to textbooks. Now a group of Chinese students have invented a new way to help students read their books.

The group of five students demonstrated their intuitive page-turning technology at Changchun University of Science and Technology.  The user wears a headband device connected to a physical page-turner. The device uses brain-sensing technology to identify when the user is blinking. This then sends a signal to the page-flipping receiver via Bluetooth. In so doing, books can be turned intuitively and with no movement from the user. Not only would this increase reading time, but it could also improve accessibility. Those with inhibited movement disabilities would be able to read unassisted.

The device itself is simple in design and therefore inexpensive. The inventors believe it could help disabled students, the elderly, or even those in the music industry. Conductors and pianists often need to turn pages whilst their hands are engaged, and there are various industries in which such technology could be a key advantage.

The students’ technology is still under development, but they have high hopes. Minor issues need some fine-tuning after initial consumer tests, and some feedback revealed that a flaw could be that readers would not be able to blink until they had finished the page. Further developments could improve this innovation further.