Talking Geiger counter developed for blind

A talking Geiger counter.

(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

Visually impaired people can soon start taking readings of radiation levels in Japan with a Geiger counter that announces its readings with a computer voice.

The Fukushima Prefectural Association of the Blind, based in the same prefecture as the leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, helped create the Talking Geiger Counter based on the Geiger Fukushima from Sanwa Manufacturing.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is set to declare Friday that the Fukushima plant has been brought to a state of cold shutdown, meaning it has been cooled enough so nuclear reactions are not occurring and little radiation is being emitted.

Toshiba’s portable gamma ray camera.

(Credit:
Toshiba)

But the association believes people will want to buy the Geiger counter when it starts accepting orders next month.

Priced at 50,000 yen ($640), the device can measure radiation up to 400 microsieverts per hour. It reads out the measurements with a synthetic female voice. The company says it’s the world’s first such device, though that is difficult to verify.

Toshiba, meanwhile, announced it has developed a po… [Read more]

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