Recordings Made For Blind Students

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 2

Recordings Made For Blind Students

Recordings for the Blind is an American organisation manned by volunteers who never see the results of the work — but they are secure in the knowledge that their efforts are appreciated.

The organisation provides a unique service for blind people everywhere and especially blind students. Selected readers make tape-recordings of educational data, and the recordings are made into records which are available for use from libraries and similar centres.

Mrs H. S. Britt, at Chicago, has been working with the association for four years. She was in Christchurch with her husband who arrived yester-

day to conduct a seminar on creativity and psychology in advertising. The organisation was started 10 years ago by a group of people who realised the difficulties of the blind student Many groups prepared educational works in Braille but a great deal of material was more suited to “audio recordings.”

Readers chosen must have a test to establish that their voice is of good recording quality; they must also be able

to work the tape recorder expertly. The most essential qualification was to be a good sight reader, said Mrs Britt.

Poetry, Science Tape recordings are made of poetry, extracts from novels or literary and scientific text-books, and technical data including mathematics or chemistry. Beaders work in pairs—one l does the reading and the other .uses the tape recorder, and they alternate their roles. Tape recordings are played back and both readers listen very carefully for en-ors. If they find any th» recordings are retaped. "The association are very strict about this,” said Mrs Britt “We never see the results of our work. It is really quite anonymous but it is very rewarding.” Keen Artist Some readers might prefer to read technical works such as mathematics but they all have to be versatile. “One of our readers who did a treatise on opera had a beautiful

voice, so she sang all the extracts from the arias in the text,” said Mrs Britt

Mrs Britt is also an accomplished artist who has held several exhibitions of her own work. She travels extensively with her husband and she visits art exhibitions and art galleries wherever she goes. Their trip has been so hurried Mrs Britt has not had time for even a sketch, “but I have got a headfui of ideas I would like to try out when I go home.” Mrs Britt was most impressed with a piece of Maori sculpture she saw in Auckland, and she is sorry she did not have more time to visit the local galleries. Mrs Britt is a member of the League of Women Voters —a non-partisan organisation in America which aims to make women better citizens, and a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club.

She acts as proof-reader for her husband who has published many books and likes to indulge her two other hobbies of gardening and golf. For her entertainment she attends symphony concerts, ballet and the theatre.