Audio Books For the Blind provides the opportunity for the Blind or visually impaired peopleand also people with physical learning disabilities to experience the wonders of audio books.
The Audio books for the Blind programs of today started out as a talking-book-program in 1931 known as “Books for the Adult Blind Project”, to address the needs of blind adults.
In 1932, the American Foundation developed The First Talking Books for the Blind and the first reproduction machine was produced in 1933.In 1934, Congress approved free mailings of talking books to citizens.By 1935, the talking book program was in full operation.
The original goal of the Books for the Adult Blind project program was to serve adults, however, in 1952, the program expanded to include children. In 1955, the program again expanded to include individuals with other impairments that prevented them from reading print. The initial appropriation for this program was $75,000; as of 1998, funding had reached $47 million.
The NLC (National Library Service for Blind and Physically Handicapped) network circulated more than 21 million recorded and Braille books and magazines to 761,300 readers in 1992.these materials are distributed to the public via a network of regional and local libraries. Such materials and the necessary machines are borrowed and returned to libraries by postage free mail. All NLS recordings are created by professionals. Another free service for the blind is called Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (added in 1995), and it uses only volunteers to do the recordings. It loses in the smoothness of the recording, but is easier in ordering of the tapes. Libraries became sources of free audio books borrowing as soon as the big publishing houses “jumped on the wagon” of producing audio books and selling them at discount prices.
NLS circulates audio book machines that are designed to play disc or cassette formats. Users that are limited in their mobility can receive playback machines equipped with a remote-control unit. Hearing impaired users can receive an auxiliary amplifier for use with headphones. Many of the audio books issued from the Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic include detailed descriptions of illustrations and photographs, and readers read aloud each page number.
Audio Books on tape are very important for the blind people or the people with other physical learning disabilities. They cover not only adults but also children. One out of every seven children (approximately 15% of all children in the US) has some form of the learning disability and for 80% of them it is a reading disability. It is much easier for them to comprehend the text of a book if they can also listen to it.
