This work discusses the construction and evaluation of a digital thermometer especially designed to be operated by people with visual disabilities. The accessibility thermometer can be used as an educational tool in practical activities in classes for sighted and visually impaired students, with the aim of helping those with special needs gain better access to the scientific world. The thermometer measuring scale ranges from −15 °C up to 115 °C, and the temperature is informed through beeps and vibration pulses similar to Morse code. Two thermometers were used to calibrate the constructed instrument, a LM35 sensor and a 7mercury thermometer; good agreement between the measured temperatures was shown through a linear correlation of 0.9997 with the LM35 sensor. Tests carried out with blind students show that this instrument could be an important tool in helping them to better understand the proper scientific concept of temperature. Besides being low cost, the device is user-friendly and provides quick response and good reproducibility.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.