A new computer package to help the blind and visually impaired surf the Internet has been developed by researchers in Oxford, writes Nigel Hanson.

Brookes Talk, a web browser which can read out all the contents of a computer screen, or simply the headings, is the brainchild of Mary Zajicek and fellow researchers at the Brookes University's computer department.

The software is now being enhanced by research student Wesley Morrissey to meet the needs of elderly Internet users in general.

A demonstration was given to six volunteers this week.

Jennifer Green, 70, of east Oxford who has been registered blind for the past 11 years and attended the demonstration, said: "I was terribly encouraged to know this research was going on. I think it's absolutely wonderful that people like myself can now have access to all the information on the Internet.

"People tend to think you turn into somebody else when you have a disability like blindness, but I have as many interests as anyone else." She hopes to buy a computer soon.

Ron Sears, 67, of Salisbury Crescent, Oxford, who is also blind, said: "I found the package quite easy to use. With special key-strokes you can jump sentences or sections of text on screen to speed up the process of reading a web page."

The work of the Brookes research team will be presented at Old Age in New Age, the annual conference of the British Society of Gerontology at Keble College this weekend.