Blind Level Tech

Episode Summary Board games bring people together, but what happens when vision loss makes it difficult to participate? This week on Blind Level Tech, host Liam Erven welcomes Gregg, creator of No Sight Game Night, to explore how everyday technology, creativity, and a little ingenuity can make board games more accessible for blind and low-vision players. After losing his vision, Gregg found himsel...

Episode Summary Shopping for clothes online can be frustrating for anyone, but when you're blind or have low vision, choosing the right size, matching colors, and knowing how an outfit will look can become a guessing game. What if technology could finally change that? In his first episode as the new host of Blind Level Tech, Liam Erven welcomes Mike Bamonte, co-owner and CEO of Dress Aloud . Inspi...

Blind Level Tech is entering an exciting new chapter, and we're introducing the voice who will help lead the way! Jonathan Price welcomes Liam Erven as the new host of Blind Level Tech, bringing his passion for accessible technology, education, and a little humor to the Aftersight family. Liam shares his vision for the future of the podcast, focusing on making complicated technology understandable...

Episode Summary   What if one pair of glasses could replace the magnifiers, phone tricks, telescopic lenses, and other tools many people with low vision rely on every day?   On this episode of Blind Level Tech , Jonathan Price sits down with Corrinalyn Guyette , Strategic Growth and Partnerships at Innovega, and Joseph , Innovega’s Chief Marketing Officer, for an in-depth look at the company’s upc...

Summary   Blind programmer and game developer Liam Erven joins Jonathan Price to explore what accessible technology looks like when inclusion is built into the foundation rather than added at the end.   Liam shares how he created Super Liam , the first audio-based side-scrolling platform game designed for blind players, and how a childhood idea eventually became something meaningful to gamers arou...

Episode Description Artificial intelligence is changing how websites are built, searched, and experienced. But is it actually making the internet more accessible?  Evan talks with accessibility specialist Ela Gorla from TetraLogical about the benefits and risks of using AI in web accessibility. They discuss AI-generated image descriptions, automatic captions, accessible coding, and why developers...

Episode Description  Restaurant menus are supposed to tell you what you can eat. But when the website is inaccessible, the PDF won’t work with a screen reader, or there isn’t a braille menu available, something as simple as ordering dinner can turn into a guessing game.  On this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan talks with Avital “Avi” Drel, creator of Meet My Menu, a tool designed to give blind a...

Getting into music production does not have to begin with an expensive microphone, audio interface, MIDI controller, or professional studio. In this solo episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan Starnes offers a practical introduction to making music and working with audio—especially for blind and low-vision creators. A phone or computer, paired with decent headphones or earbuds, may be everything you ne...

On this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan Starnes and Jonathan Price explore vibe coding and its potential for blind and low-vision users. Jonathan shares how AI-assisted coding helped him create an accessible production-management platform that brings Aftersight’s programs, volunteers, publications, audio, and production information into one place. They also discuss screen-reader testing, overly...

There’s a lot to catch up on in the world of tech. Evan Starnes and David Ward are back for a Blind Level Tech roundup covering everything from NLS BARD on the Orbit Player and new BrailleSense features to NVDA 2026, rising computer hardware prices, accessible smart glasses, Curb2Car, Waymo, Tesla Robotaxi, and more. Along the way, they discuss what these changes actually mean for blind and low-vi...

This week, Evan welcomes Aftersight volunteer and Perkins Brailler repair Ralph for a journey through the machine’s history, design, and maintenance.  Before the Perkins Brailler, people primarily wrote braille using a slate and stylus or one of several early mechanical braille writers. Many of those machines were large, loud, fragile, and difficult for children to operate.  The conversation explo...

After a short staycation break, Evan is back on Blind Level Tech to explore the surprisingly fascinating world of audible pedestrian signals. These are the beeping, chirping, talking, and sometimes very enthusiastic crosswalk buttons that help blind and low vision travelers navigate street crossings. This episode covers the early history of APS devices, including bells and buzzers from the 1920s a...

This week on Blind Level Tech, Evan takes a closer look at weather radios: what they do, why they still matter in the age of smartphones, and where accessibility still falls short. From NOAA broadcasts and SAME codes to emergency crank radios, alert radios, pillow shakers, strobe lights, and satellite SOS features, this episode is all about staying informed when it matters most. Creators & Gue...

In this Blind Level Tech monthly Tech Roundup, Evan welcomes David Ward back as a recurring monthly guest for a new, evolving roundup format covering access tech, mainstream tech, and useful listener-focused tools. The episode begins with a discussion of VAL, a customizable talking clock and chime app from Quentin Williams. Evan shares his love of auditory timekeeping, retro talking clocks, hourly...

David Ward returns to Blind Level Tech for part two of a wonderfully nerdy and practical conversation about accessibility, AI, screen readers, and the tools that make daily life just a little smoother. Evan and David pick up from their previous discussion and dive into Braille Sonar, David’s braille reference app that has been revived as a web app with help from modern AI coding tools. From there,...

In this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan sits down with David Ward, longtime assistive technology trainer, producer of the Echo Tips Podcast, and all-around smart speaker nerd in the best possible way. David shares how his early love of computers, IT certification, and training background led him into access technology and eventually into creating Echo Tips. The conversation centers heavily on Am...

In this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan Starnes and Jonathan Price welcome Sriram Ganesh, founder of Luminade, to talk about Lumin, a voice-driven email client designed especially with blind, low vision, aging, neurodivergent, and voice-first users in mind. Sriram shares his journey from growing up in India, falling in love with video games, building AI products in gaming and education, and even...

1. Episode Summary   In this episode of Blind Level Tech , Evan Starnes and Jonathan Price talk with Shanell Matos , Community Manager at RightHear , about accessible wayfinding, independence, and the difference between being guided and being empowered. Shanell explains that RightHear is spelled with “hear” — H-E-A-R — and is built to give blind and low-vision users meaningful orientation informat...

1) Episode Summary In this episode of Blind Level Tech , host Evan Starnes is joined by producer Jonathan Price for a monthly tech news digest covering mainstream tech, access tech, AI, wearables, and listener comments. The episode opens with a preview of upcoming conversations, including Sriram Ganesh from Lumen and Shanell Matos from RightHear , highlighting AI email management, indoor orientati...

As promissed, here is the BLT Bite demo of the OOrian app. For this demonstration, we go on a walk to Evan's office, and  On this demonstration, we take you on an immersive walk from Evan's home to the office, while taking in everything OOrian points out along the way. It is strongly recommended to use headphones for the best listening experience. If there is a particular feature of OOrian you wou...

In this solo episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan takes a deep dive into one of the most exciting accessibility tools he has tested recently: the Orion app. Evan explains that he first encountered Orion through a friend, then tried it firsthand on both an iPhone and Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. He quickly realized the app represented something he has long talked about on the show: “reactive AI,” or te...

In this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan Starnes takes on a topic that can be surprisingly personal and surprisingly complicated: switching ecosystems. Rather than arguing that iPhone or Android is universally better, Evan walks listeners through what actually changes when you move from one platform to the other, especially as a blind screen reader user. Drawing from his own recent experience of...

In this episode of Blind Level Tech, Evan dives into a surprisingly practical and slightly uncomfortable question: when does “smart” tech become too smart for its own good, and what can you do if your smart device loses it's smart functionality? The conversation is sparked by the shutdown of the Braava smart oven, a once-innovative infrared countertop appliance that relied heavily on cloud service...

Episode Summary In this monthly Blind Level Tech roundup, Evan Starnes brings a fast-moving mix of mainstream and assistive tech news, opening with a reminder that Aftersight’s Tech Pulse audio edition lets listeners hear original tech articles from sources like Top Tech Tidbits, Wired, and CNET. From there, the episode moves through Amazon’s new Alexa personality options, Apple’s push into busine...

Episode Summary  In this personal three-year reflection, Evan Starnes steps away from the usual tech-heavy format to look back on the journey of Blind Level Tech since its launch in March 2023. He shares how his time at the Colorado Center for the Blind and his early internship at Aftersight helped shape his confidence, skills, and voice as both an audio producer and host.  Evan walks listeners th...