A new kind of PENfriend – Mantra Lingua’s new digital device to help make sense of the world all around you

If you’ve ever listened, really listened, to the soundscape of the world around you, you’ll know how important our sense of hearing really is. It helps us work out what’s going on, and listening is one of the four basic skills of language (the others being speaking, reading and writing).

Penfriend is a reassuring word; it speaks of kindness and a way of seeing the world through the eyes of someone else, interpreting the world around you so it starts to make sense. This is exactly what the new PENfriend3™ allows you to do.

There are 2,500 re-recordable labels available on the PENfriend3™, each with its own unique number. You can record numbered labels for items at home, in the kitchen, in the fridge, freezer or store cupboard; you can use it to identify plants in the garden, or music tracks, birdsong, or the sounds of the world around you.

The new PENfriend3™ has a myriad of uses. It can be used to help orientate people in a new environment; to support those with limited vision to retain some independence; to help carers communicate with those they look after who might have difficulty seeing or speaking; or to support children who are non-verbal.

The PENfriend3™ now allows you to listen to talking books on the move; on “trains, planes and automobiles”; waiting to catch public transport; at home, or in the garden. It also works as a bookmark: it remembers your last location in your audio book, and will automatically resume reading at that point when you next switch on the device.

Once the PENfriend3™ is connected to your computer via USB cable, you can access a straightforward audio or graphical interface to download audio books. The RNIB are releasing the whole of their DAISY talking book catalogue for download, so whether your taste in reading runs to Agatha Christie or Jane Austen, there will be a story to suit you.

And for those in a bilingual or multilingual family, household or environment, there’s good news too. The PENfriend3 can help you bring stories to life in your home language, allowing you to record the familiar and reassuring sound of your voice on over 70 titles currently available from Mantra Lingua in many world languages.

Contact us to find out more about how the PENfriend3™ can help you make sense of your world.