B.A.Bar for Reading Barcodes

B.A.Bar is a communication device, which reads barcodes as generated speech. B.A.Bar was developed in Switzerland by the Federation Suisse des Teletheses. The only research site in the United States that uses B.A.Bar is that of neurolinguist Filip Loncke of the University of Virginia.

The B.A.Bar is versatile as it has been used on all age groups, helping people learn or relearn how to speak and become more independent. It provides auditory feedback when glided over the black-and-white strip similar to the ones used on grocery products. This device is used to program barcodes with words or phrases after which the barcodes are fixed to objects, pictures or places. When the user scans the barcode with the device, it reads the word or phrase.

An adult can learn to use the barcode reader in one session while a child with Down’s syndrome can take about six to seven. After many training and practice sessions, adults with aphasia can recover and pronounce more words from a bar-coded list than from a written list. According to Loncke, “It may be an indication that the added modality by the speaking barcode reader helped the participant in word retrieval.”

The device works as a research tool in improving the understanding of how humans process language. It is found that using barcode reader does not affect the brain’s normal formation of language before it is spoken.

Source: University of Virginia