Adventures in Assistive Technology

iSpeak It is an audio converter that works with the iPod or iPhone. It loads Word, PDF, Pages, RTF, AppleWorks, text and HTML documents. iSpeak It then uses the Mac's text-to-speech engine and iTunes to convert the text into an MP3 track. It also contains the text as lyrics so you can read along as you listen. iSpeak It also work with web pages and RSS feeds.

You can either by it for $19.95 USD, or get a free version if you sign up to buy another product. Check it out by clicking on the link below.
www.zapptek.com/ispeak-it

Posted by cab870 at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LibriVox is a project that describes its objective to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then they release the MP3 audio files back onto the net for free. It was started in August 2005, and already has amassed over 2400 recordings. Most of the recordings are in English but there are also recordings available in German, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Japanese as well as other languages.

All of their audio is in the U.S. public domain, which means that the books must have been published before 1923. Although this limits the library's collection, LibriVox’s catalogue includes an impressive range of books, short works and poems from writers such as: Jane Austen, Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, and William Shakespeare. A perfect selection for your English Lit class!

What's great about this site is that is just doesn't give you the audio file, there are also links to Wikipedia entries about the work itself, and related information, which can help when analyzing the text.

Check out LibriVox by clicking on the link below!

http://librivox.org/

Posted by cab870 at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you might have noticed, I use Odiogo as a means of turning my text posts into audio, and I also blogged about the Odigo program in a previous posting. Odiogo works really great, but it is not the only TTS tools for your blog. Check out these programs to see which one would suit your blog the best. They all have free and upgrade versions available.

iSpeech - Another text-to-speech conversion service similar to Odiogo

Jott - Can convert blog feeds to audio and let you listen to them on your cell phone

GhostReader - Does text to speech for the Mac platform

Posted by cab870 at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did you know that you can create and save audio files with Kurzweil? The files can be saved in either MP3 or WAV format to be played on a desktop audio player like iTunes. You can also download the files onto a portable MP3 player for when you are on the go.

Check out the instructions for making audio files below:

Download file

Posted by cab870 at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come and meet Ken Patterson from HumanWare in our new AT Room this Thursday, April 2nd. Ken will be giving a presentation and demonstrating
some of the HumanWare products, including CCTV's, handheld magnifiers, GPS systems, and the ZoomTwix Portable CCTV that I blogged about in December.
http://blogs.usask.ca/AAT/2009/01/zoomtwix_portab.html

Ken will be in the new AT Room from about 1:00pm until 4:00pm, so drop by to check out some really cool technology. Check out the HumanWare website below.

http://www.humanware.com/en-canada/home

Posted by cab870 at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, today was the last day of the conference. One of the sessions I attended was all about free and low-budget programs for students with disabilities. They featured TTS software, mind-mapping software, and dictionaries. These have been tested by the presenters, and they recommend them to their students, so they should be good. Here are the highlights:

D-Speech (by Dimio)
This a free TTS software that allows the user to save the output as a Wav or Mp3 file. You can also select different voices and to combine them between themselves, in order to create dialogues between some voices. The interface is user-friendly, so even beginners will have an esy time with this. One drawback is that the D-Speech screen always has to open, and it will not read text that is outside of the program. This program also topped their list of MP3 conversion programs.
http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

Natural Reader
This TTS program has a free version and an upgraded version available. The free version works really well, and a bonus is that it has a mini-read bar that can be positioned anywhere on the screen, so it can read any document you have open. The drawback with this one is that it doesn't highlight when it reads.

http://www.naturalreaders.com/

Posted by cab870 at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I attended a groundbreaking session this morning, and am so glad that I didn't sleep in (the session was at 8am). Here is the scoop: Accessible Math is Here!!! Until now there has been a gap between screen readers and math expressions. With the combination of a few technologies, math is nw very accessible when using a DAISY reader. There is a program called Infty Reader that is a Math OCR Software. You can scan any type of math expression (geometry, algebra, etc.) into this program, and it converts the equation into MathML, which is the markup that DAISY uses to read math. You then open this Infty file in a Word document, and then use the Save as DAISY plug-in to convert it to a DTB. When this DTB file is opened with a DAISY player, it reads the math expression perfectly. The Infty file can also be transferred into Duxbury, so a braille translation can be printed. Having said this, you still might have to go in and edit the equation, but you can use the built in Word math editor, Word 2007 Math.

Infty Reader will be offered as an ABBYY Fine Reader plug-in in May 2009, so this technology will be available sooner than later. Check out information about Infty Reader and MathML below.

http://www.inftyproject.org/en/index.html

I think I have all of this information correct, but if there is anyone out there that has additional information, please leave a comment!!!

Posted by cab870 at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was a DAISY day today, as I attended three sessions on DAISY digital talking books (DTB). The first was a DAISY 101 session that explained what DAISY is (Digital Accessible Information System) as well as it's benefits and features. We also discussed software and hardware DAISY players. Basically, DAISY is a type of digital book, but it is more efficient than a regular MP3 or e-text because the use of headings in the markup makes the DAISY books navigable by pages, chapters, and headings, instead of playing straight through.

The second session I attended was about the Word as DAISY add-in developed by the folks at Equal Access to Software and Information (EASI). This program can translate a Word document into a DTB file that can be played on some DAISY players. Before translating, you can create the headings in the Word doc by using the style features. These headings then become the navigation points in the DTB. If using a software DAISY player the navigation points are visible in a column on the left-side of the screen.

The third session I attended was about different types of DAISY software players. The first player demoed was the GH Player. This is the "Cadillac" of DAISY players, and it works with braille and tactile displays. These features make it a bit expensive, with a price of about $300 USD. The second player was the Dolphin Easy Reader. It reads DAISY really well and has a lower price of about $55.00 USD. Both of these readers will highlight the text on-screen as it is being read, giving students with learning disabilities the benefit of a multi-sensory approach to reading. The third player tested was a free one that can be dowloaded from the DAISY Consortium website. It crashed during the demo however, and the presenter noted that with DAISY players, you get what you pay for. So true.

I will be attending a couple more DAISY sessions tomorrow, so in the meantime, get more information about DAISY and the DAISY Consortium from the website below.

http://www.daisy.org/

Posted by cab870 at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I attended two sessions about the built-in accessibility available with the Mac OSX, and I have to say that I was very impressed. Two people from the Mac accessibility team (yes, they have an accessibility team!) gave the hands-on presentations. The first session focused on customizing view options by increasing font and icon sizes, and magnifying the internet and other applications. Increasing the font sizes doesn't just benefit people with low vision, but also benefits those who have limited mouse skills or use switches. This is because it increases the target, making it easier to click on.

The second session focused on Voice Over, the built-in screen reading system. A brand-new Mac computer uses Voice Over on the very first start-up allowing blind and visually impaired users to use their computers on the spot, without having to install a separate program. It was unclear however, if Voice Over reads PDF and Word documents. Another cool features is a talking clock which reads aloud the time every half-hour.

The presenters also demoed the new iPod shuffle that I blogged about last week. Apple says that they are committed to accessibility, and it shows. This year, the American Foundation for the Blind honored Apple with an Access Award. Check out the Apple website for more information about accessibility features.

http://www.apple.com/accessibility/

Posted by cab870 at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new 4GB iPod shuffle uses VoiceOver to generate text to speech. The VoiceOver function will tell you the name of the song and artist you are currently listening to, and it will also read aloud your playlists. It can speak 14 languages, from Dutch to Japanese, and while the actual speech is generated by iTunes it is transferred to the Shuffle when you sync it.

Check out the Apple website for more information

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/voiceover.html

Posted by cab870 at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After all of the controversy that ensued after the announcement that the Kindle 2 will have text-to-speech, Amazon has decided that they will modify the new version of its Kindle electronic-book reader to allow authors and publishers to decide whether they want the TTS function used for a particular title. Hopefully, most authors and publishers will choose the TTS option, but time will tell.

Posted by cab870 at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PowerTalk is a free software that when downloaded will automatically speak any presentation or slide show running in Microsoft PowerPoint. Once the program is installed, open and run the presentation as usual, and the text on your slides will be read aloud. PowerTalk will speak the text as it appears and will also speak hidden text that has been attached to images. The voices that are used are the standard computer voices that come with Windows.

This program would be very helpful for anyone who finds it hard to present their thoughts orally with PowerPoint presentations.

Check out this download site for a free download:

http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=powertalk

Posted by cab870 at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new Kindle has a “Read-to-Me” text-to-speech feature that reads out loud every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper downloaded. According to the Amazon website, pages automatically turn while the content is being read, so you can listen hands-free, and you can choose from both male and female voices which can be sped up or slowed down to suit your preference.

As expected, there are already copyright fights flaring-up over this new feature. According to an article in WIRED magazine, the Authors Guild is warning writers that the TTS function is likely violating their copyrights. The argument against this is that because the voice is a synthesized version of what is already there, it is not an actual reproduction of the book, and therefore is not violating copyright.

The new Kindle looks like it has some great potential for AT users, and it will be interesting to see reviews once the product is released on February 24th.

Read more about the Kindle 2 at these websites:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340623,00.asp
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/copyright-fight.html
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI

Posted by cab870 at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Word Talk is an open source text-to-speech plugin for use with most versions Microsoft Word (Word 97 and after). Although Word Talk has been around for awhile, this new version allows the user to convert the text files into mp3 or wav format for playing on your iPod or other portable media player. Go to the Word Talk website for more information and to get your free download.

http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/

Posted by cab870 at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Zoom-Twix boasts to be the smallest scanner, fastest reader, most compact and lightest (less than 2 pounds) portable CCTV solution available today. The CCTV camera lets you see distant objects up close such as classroom lectures or white board presentations, and the flexible support arm and attachment accessories allow the camera to be rotated 360° around both a horizontal and a vertical axis.

But what really makes the Zoom-Twix unique is that it has two cameras: a “frog” camera and a CCTV camera. The “frog” camera provides instant scanning by photographing the book page, and then immediately uses OCR to convert the image into machine-readable text. The “frog” camera also acts as scanner, scanning 20 pages per minute which can be saved to your computer for use with other programs. The “frog” camera is also a magnifier (up to 40x). It photographs a page and then it magnifies the captured text and wraps the lines onscreen for easy reading. There is no longer a need for an X-Y table! Just scroll down.

The ZoomTwix connects to PC or a laptop via a USB port, and comes with a variety of voices to choose from. As far as I know, it is only available in Canada through Humanware, and the current cost is about $3,000. I was able to go to a Zoom-Twix demo that Humanware gave last month at the Saskatoon CNIB office, and it really is a remarkable gadget!

Posted by cab870 at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Learning new technology can sometimes be frustrating, especially if you have other things on your mind -- exams and homework anyone? There are many online resources, such as guides and tutorials, that can help you make sense of your software.

The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre at the University of Toronto has some excellent tutorials for Dragon Naturally Speaking and Kurzweil 3000. They also have a link to "Quick Guides" for these and other programs like Inspiration and ZoomText. Check out their tutorial page here.

Posted by cab870 at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Podcasts of recent blog entries are now available thanks to Odiogo. Odiogo is a program that generates automatic podcasts using text-to-speech, making online information audible. You can also download Odiogo generated content, which can be listened to on PC and Mac computers, mobile phones and MP3 players. Click on the "Listen Now" button to listen to the podcast entry.

For more information about Odiogo, check their website and blog.

Posted by cab870 at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)