Product packaging may talk to you someday

HELSINKI, Finland, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Product packages may soon give consumers information by talking to them through their smartphones or tablet computers, Finnish scientists say.

Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland have been developing new wireless NFC-based (near field communication) applications that make life easier for the visually impaired.

In a pilot study a group of people with poor eyesight tested a speech-based item identification system and new "talking" packaging for medicine and food, a VTT release said Thursday.

In the study, touching the info code on the packaging with a smartphone resulted in product and dosage information being wirelessly sent to the phone to be heard by the user.

A smartphone application developed in collaboration with VTT by Finnish company TopTunniste called Touch 'n' Tag enables visually impaired users to identify everyday items, including food, with the help of voice memos.

Another application developed during the project was a so-called speaking medicine packaging. When touched, it provides spoken dosage instructions and other important information from data sent to the NFC chip by pharmacy staff that can be listened to by the consumer at home.

While the project is ongoing, most current mobile phones do not support advanced NFC applications and the new solutions are designed for platforms not yet on the market, researchers said.