Labels: Audio Labels

Ed Haines: When was the last time you picked up a box of cake mix, or a piece of business mail, or a pill bottle and you thought, "I need to know the directions, or the return address, or the right dose, and I can't read the small print on this to find out. I wish this thing would just talk to me and tell me what I need to know. It would be so simple."

What if that box, or letter, or bottle could talk to you? What if anything in your house with printed information on it had a special feature that could speak that information to you, so you could hear it and not struggle to read it? You can actually add that special feature yourself with something called an audio label. Well, that sounds great, right but, what is an audio label? It's not something many of us are familiar with.

A label, it's a small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and gives information about it. An audio label is exactly that, and the information it gives is in speech you can hear not print you have to read. So how does it do that? Well, audio labels work with a device that is a label recorder and reader. It's usually about the size and shape of a microphone, it records what you want to know in your voice, or helper's voice, attaches that recording to a specific label, and then plays back the recording whenever you scanned that label with the same the device.

Think of a barcode scanner at the grocery store. A barcode gets scanned and the product and price show up at the register. It's the same principle except the product and price would be in speech. In fact, some audio labeling systems use actual barcodes to give you spoken information.

Before we go any further, let's check out Kat making an audio label.

Kat: Hi, I'm Kat. My grandmother has glaucoma, she wants to make sure she's taking the right pills, but it's hard for her to read the instructions on her pill bottles. I'm going to make an audio label to put on this bottle, so she'll be able to hear exactly what the pill is four and when to take it.

First, I take the label from the labeling kit and put it on the bottle. I put it on the top of the bottle cap where my grandmother can feel it. Then, I press the record button on the record reader, and I touch the label with her recorder. The recorder beeps, which lets me know I can now make the voice recording. I record the information my grandmother needs.

This is blood pressure medicine, losartan, 100 mg. Take one pill every evening before bed.

Then, to check the label I scan it with the recorder by touching the label with one end of the recorder, and it plays it back to me.

Pen Friend: This is blood pressure medicine, losartan, 100 mg. Take one pill every evening before bed.

Kat: Now, whenever my grandmother wants to be sure about what's in that specific pill bottle she can scan the label with her recorder, and my voice recording will tell her. It's that simple.

Ed Haines: Quite a few audio labeling systems are out there on the market. Each type works a little differently but, as [K-at] showed us, creating a label is pretty easy. You can buy audio labelers on popular Internet shopping sites, or from businesses that specialize in products for people with vision impairments. You can ask a Hadley expert about choices, but in general most systems come with the labeling recorder and reader, sometimes it's called the labeling wand, and many audio labelers can store more than 200 hours of recordings. That's a lot of information. They use batteries. Some have rechargeable batteries, and usually they can be used with headphones for privacy. They also can switch between English and other languages, it depends on the model. Then, you'll have a large assortment of labels. They'll be indifferent sizes and often with different textures, so you can tell them apart easily by feeling them. Some of the labels will be washable and some will tolerate moisture, so you can use them in the freezer. Some labels are even magnetic. If you use all your labels up you can always order more, and many labels are reusable.

When recording labels here's a few basic rules to follow. Speak clearly and at a comfortable pace just like Kat did in the previous example.

Kat: This is blood pressure medicine, losartan, 100 mg. Take one pill every evening before bed.

Ed Haines: Remember, audio labels might not be the best choice for every situation. They might be hard to hear if there's a lot of background noise, such as a loud TV in the room. And, private information, like a medicine label, can be heard by people nearby if you're not using headphones. If the user has hearing loss some types of recorded voices will be easier to hear than others. You might need to experiment.

Okay, we know what audio labels are, how they're made, and how to get them. Now, here's the fun part, the ways you can use audio labels to make your life easier are endless. Remember I said that labelers can store up to 200 hours of recording? That means you can record quite a lot of information on one single label. You can't do that with any other kind of labeling system.

Let's say, you want to label a box of cake mix, what do you need that box to tell you? With an audio label not only can you record what kind of mix it is, but you can record the entire cake recipe. It can be helpful to label food cans, and boxes in your pantry, you don't want to open the wrong can by mistake. But a can of soup can tell you more than just its contents. You can also record the nutritional information like calories, or sugar, or sodium content. This is important if you're watching your diet.

Let's listen to Kat again labeling a can of soup for her grandmother.

Kat: Vegetable and noodle soup. Two servings per can. 60 calories per serving. 480 mg of of sodium per serving.

Ed Haines: Now, she checks her recording.

Pen Friend: Vegetable and noodle soup. Two servings per can. 60 calories per serving. 480 mg of sodium per serving.

Ed Haines: See what I mean? It would be hard to put all that important information on a large print label.

Audio labels are terrific for organizing personal letters or documents. With a bit of help, you can use them to keep track of your mail and bills.

Here's Kat again helping her grandmother sort her weekly mail. She's labeling a business letter.

Kat: This is an electric bill. $54.17 due on January 30th.

Ed Haines: Now, the next time her grandmother picks up that paper she can scan the label and hear ...

Pen Friend: This is an electric bill. $54.17 due on January 30th.

Ed Haines: All sorts of paperwork can be organized conveniently with audio labels. Calendars can be labeled with appointments or birthday information. You can create grocery lists, or make an audible address book. Anywhere you need to know what's on a printed page you can make and listen to an audio label.

What about clothing? Washable labels make it easy to keep your closet organized. Audio labels can record washing instructions, colors, patterns, and fabrics. You can keep track of clothing that matches and even what accessories go with your choices. We listened to [K-at] mark a pill bottle for her grandmother, and there are many, many ways that medicine can be marked with audio labels. It's a big subject all by itself, and Hadley has a workshop on this specific topic with plenty of detail.

Our hobbies often involve lots of materials and supplies. Audio labels can help you keep track of them. Yarns, threads, cloth, and so on can be labeled. Music and movie collections, tools and crafting supplies, even garden seed packets. Audio labels are a great way to label items around your house to make your life easier.

From food to medicine to mail getting the information you need by listening to a label, and not struggling to read means you have more time and energy to get back to the things you want to do.