Time-telling Device for the Blind

The biggest contraint for designing a time-telling device for the blind is that it can't tell time visually like normal clock or watch we use everyday. Meanwhile, there should be some other constraints or restriction should be noticed, such as easy to carry, easy to use, obvious to tell difference, etc.

The first idea i thought about is a voice device. Sound is very easy to think about when designing some device for the blind. It could be a digital clock or watch without screen. Many digital watch or clock has the speaking feature. When pushing a button on it, it speaks the current time. However, such kind of voice device is not appropriate to use in a meeting environment or a noisy public space.

My second idea is to use sense of touching.

This device is made of two panels, bigger one is Minute, smaller one is Hour (like on normal clock, longer hand is Minute, shorter hand is Hour), a case and a cover. Each panel has 12 sectors, each sector meaning 1 hour or 5 minutes.

This device is about a palm big, so it's very easy to hold and carry. When holding it in palm, people can easily use fingers to feel how many sectors outside case, thus tell the time.

There is also a half-round cover for protection. People should open the cover to tell time.