the news and information service for those in the UK who live with sight loss

The thinking behind Infosound.

There are over 2 million blind and partially-sighted people in

Our Editorial Code of Practice.

All audio material produced by Infosound is offered in good faith. Infosound does not profit in any way by featuring news and information about providers of goods or services or by reflecting the opinions of those whom we interview. At all times, Infosound aims to be impartial and promotes no opinion of its own.

Please note that we have no control over, and therefore cannot accept any responsibility for, information posted on any web site to which we offer a link from this web site.

Caveat Emptor. Infosound cannot be liable to any person for loss or damage incurred or suffered as a result of his/her accepting or offering to accept goods or services contained in audio, or any other, material produced by Infosound wherever it is reproduced. Listeners should make appropriate enquiries before incurring any expense or contractual obligation.

the United Kingdom, where someone starts to lose their sight every 15 minutes.

With this in mind, we offer free, accessible, impartial and relevant information in audio to vision-impaired people across the UK in the belief that the better a person is armed with information, the better they can make life choices that suit them best..

Our aim is to provide a news and information service that is equally relevant to those who may have lived with sight loss all of their lives and those who are newly diagnosed as 'severely sight-impaired' (blind) or 'sight-impaired' (partially-sighted).

Editorially, it is currently our intent to cover all four parts of the United Kingdom, where our services are aimed. Where there are differences in law, financing or service delivery we will always try to reflect this.

We neither sell nor promote any particular service, product or opinion. Infosound is strictly impartial, non-political and non-commercial; it is a free public service and a registered charity.

What Infosound offers.

Our core service is the production of short audio features on a very broad range of topics such as finance, leisure, mobility, products, health, employment, training, services, travel, hobbies, daily-living advice and support. We talk to those who have something to say on a subject - for example, those who provide products, services and support and, importantly, we talk to blind and partially-sighted people to share their experiences of living with sight loss.

Our material is produced with the intention of being directly relevant to someone in the UK who lives with sight loss, their families, friends and carers. There are several ways to listen to Infosound audio material but all the audio that we produce can be played and downloaded from this web site and listened to on a computer or transferred to cassette, CD, mp3 player or memory device.

This web site has been designed to be as easy to negotiate and navigate as possible for blind and partially-sighted computer-users and is primarily aimed at those who live with sight loss. But there is one page which is specifically for those directly involved in talking newspapers and magazines, community, hospital and Internet radio stations and other information providers that could benefit vision impaired people. [visit Support for Media Services section]

Infosound - the charity.

Infosound is a charity, registered in England and Wales (no. 1142082) and in Scotland (no. SC039929). Infosound is accepted as a charity by HM Revenue and Customs and is a member of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Talking News Federation.

Infosound serves anyone who lives with sight loss, whether or not they are registered as sight-impaired (partially-sighted) or severely sight-impaired (blind), who is resident in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

We do not charge for our services and as we are funded entirely by voluntary donation we would not be able to operate without the generous support we receive from other charities, some businesses as well as individual donors. We are very grateful to them all.

Charity Trustees: Ms L. Arnold, Mr A. Hindell, Mr R. Myers.

Thanks for the Support.

Most things in life cut both ways - and Infosound is no exception. We are always grateful for the positive feedback we receive about our services from blind and partially-sighted people across the UK - and beyond. But, in turn, we couldn't provide those services were it not for the practical support we receive from others. So, we'd like to say 'thank you' to those who help, or who have helped, us financially or 'in kind' in any way, in particular:

• British Wireless for the Blind Fund (which enables the weekly Briefing and monthly Despatch services)
• National Talking Newspapers and Magazines (part of RNIB group)
• RPA Distribution
• Vodafone's World of Difference (which is supporting setting up the Soundings forum service)
• A significant individual donor from Brighton in Sussex, who has asked to remain anonymous
• Anyone who has sent us donations or who has put money into our collecting tins

If you feel you would like to contribute to our work, please email us or phone 084 55 55 55 28. Thank you.

And many thanks to those who take the trouble to get in touch with us to voice their appreciation for Infosound services. Some are individual listeners, others are from talking newspaper groups and radio stations that use our material. Some of their comments can be found dotted around this web site.