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Electronic handheld reader debuts

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BALTIMORE — A portable electronic reader that allows users to hear printed pages is now available, according to the National Federation of the Blind.

The reader, developed jointly with the Federation and inventor Ray Kurzweil, functions with users holding the camera over a printed piece. A few seconds later, the user “hears the contents of the printed document played back in clear synthetic speech,” according to a press release from the federation. The device can store “thousands of printed pages with easily obtainable extra money,” the release said.

The reader was scheduled to be available beginning July 1, and is expected to sell in retail stores for $3,495, according to the release.