An apparatus for the blind (“optophone”) was developed by the Russian inventor, peasant Efim Evgrafovich Gorin (1877–1951). According to the information given in the article by D. Tulinov, “In May 1913, a short article was published in the Kharkov newspaper “Morning”. It was called “Apparatus for the Blind.” From it the reader could learn that “the peasant E. Gorin was given… the privilege of an apparatus for recognizing the environment around them by the blind. The design of this apparatus is based on the conversion of light energy into sound energy using the known properties of selenium, which represents different resistance to the passage of electric current through it at different degrees of illumination.” In the same years, a similar device was created by the Irish inventor Edmund Edward Fournier d’Alba. The light-colour projection device of Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné had the same name, but it was intended for other purposes.”
Links to Third-Party Publications:
Tulinov D. Do you want to feel more? // TABLE. 08/06/2021. URL: https://s-t-o-l.com/material/65210-khotite-chuvstvovat-bolshe/ ; Kolganova O. V. Classification of domestic light and sound instruments of the first third of the twentieth century (From chromotrope to kinemachrome) // The Art and Science of Television. 2025. No. 21.3. pp. 61–117. https://tv-science.online/
