Blind School Brantford
The Hadley School for the Blind (Winnetka, Illinois, USA) has received the first prototype of a “beeping” basketball designed by students at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana, USA) that enables blind and visually impaired people to locate, dribble, and shoot baskets.
The regulation Spalding Infusion basketball has an aluminum tube (replacing the ball’s self-inflating pump) that houses a micro-controller, amplifier, dynamic cone speaker, and custom circuit board to emit a continuous tone. The Rose-Hulman team also designed a second sound emitter that attaches to a backboard with Velcro so players know where to shoot.
Hadley’s Audible Basketball Makes Game Accessible
Though not the first basketball designed for the blind, the Hadley ball solves previous models’ main design flaws, e.g. imbedded bells that didn’t ring when the ball was held or in the air (resulting in frustration and injuries), or sound-emitting foam balls that lacked a basketball’s feel and function.
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