Technology has made life easier for countless scores of people, whether it's for research, communication or entertainment.

But visually impaired people have seemingly been left behind when it comes to tech, however, there are plenty of neat applications and features on hand.

SayText

This unique application uses the iPhone's camera to read out text on documents, menus and other forms, with users simply swiping to the right to hear the text being read.

The application works well enough, and is available for free from Apple's App Store, so what do you have to lose?

VoiceOver

The default assistant for Apple's iOS platform is a pretty nifty piece of kit, delivering text-to-speech navigation for the iPhone, iPod  and iPad.

Users simply activate the feature from the Accessibility menu in settings. Once that's completed, you can single tap on an item to have its description read to you, and then double tap to select it. Need to scroll? Then simply use a three-finger gesture.

Talkadroid

This unique Android app reads your PDFs and DOC files out loud, making it a great tool for visually impaired office workers and the like.

Another neat feature is its ability to read webpages, with users simply pressing menu and then share from their browser.

Color ID Free

Another nifty application for the iPhone and Android platforms, Color ID Free identifies colours out loud, with even slight changes being detected.

The app could come in handy for checking the weather, whether the food is cooked or anything else.

My Blind Tunes

On the surface, this application doesn't look like anything special, being a music player, but My Blind Tunes has plenty of great features for the visually impaired.

The Android app lets users search media, enter commands and play music using the power of your voice alone, making it a great tool for drivers and the visually impaired alike.

WalkyTalky

This neat Android application speaks the address of nearby locations and streets as you pass them, making for a useful navigation tool.

Users can also receive walking directions, making it a great alternative to Google's default application.

Voice Wiki

This simple Android application reads out Wikipedia articles paragraph by paragraph, making for a convenient way to get your dose of the world's most popular encyclopaedia.

The app works simply enough, with users hitting the microphone button and speaking their search term. And if the term brings up a disambiguation screen, the application will read the possible entries as well.

Vlingo Assistant

One of the more popular apps out there, Vlingo is marketed as a personal assistant of sorts, letting you do plenty of tasks using your voice.

Available on the BlackBerry, iPhone and Android app markets, this nifty mini-program is more accurate than many competitors.

Tweet Speaker

One of the more original Twitter clients out there, Tweet Speaker for iOS does exactly what you think, reading tweets out loud.

Tweet Speaker's user-friendly layout and smart execution makes it well worth a download, especially at the bargain price of $0.99.