New Help for the Sightless (Paper Money)

About this technology

Overview

Boston Information and Technology found that blind people can differentiate between the values of currency of U.S. money. New device called Paper Money Identifier" is used. This is a spinoff from NASA's optical-electronic scanning. Not distinguishable by the human eye each denomination of American currency has a unique distribution of colors. Device (size of cigarette pack) emits a narrow beam of invisible infrared light. This beam reacts to the reflectivity of the colors on the bill and cause an oscillator to generate an audible signal. As bill is passed over PMI you hear a distinctive series of tones that identify each denomination. "