Text to Speech for an Elderly Blind Senior

[Freehold Fred]

I am looking for recommendations, and practical gotchas for implementing text to speech for a blind senior citizen.

At this time I do not know how old the computer is or what versions of Windows, but will find out by next Sunday.

Basicially the text to speech must integrate with a browser (Opera may be a candidate) and email:

1) That can move from location to location with a simple tab or cursor move (mouse not practical)

2) Select/highlight text with absolute minimum of key presses (Ctrl+F9 for MS Natural Reader's Free Version not suitable, no experience with Pro Version) - again mouse not practical

3) I really DO like MS Natural readers ability to convert text to MP3s;).

Incidentally I went to that other BBS in search of the Blxnd Gxy (I will check to see if I have his email or someone, please send me PM) and I see major changes over there that look very interesting. Haven't been there in a long time. Maybe it is time to :kiss: and make up or do I have :brick:in my head?



Fred

[dbarrow]

Fred, "That Blind Guy" Bob always swore by Dragon Naturally Speaking. He had it integrated into everything.
I wish we could get him active on the forums again as nobody is as amazing as Bob and what he did for being blind!
You can still catch him on Pal Talk now and then.
I'll pm you an email and number.

[kelly]

A friend of mine uses JAWS. The price tag is upwards of $1,000. It's a full featured screen reader. She uses it on Windows 98SE.

www.freedomscientific.com

- tony

[Freehold Fred]

That's the one. I couldn't remember the name. I see a free demo at their website and an Flash USB version (very interesting).

Thnx,
Fred


A friend of mine uses JAWS. The price tag is upwards of $1,000. It's a full featured screen reader. She uses it on Windows 98SE.

www.freedomscientific.com (http://www.freedomscientific.com)

- tony

[PeteF]

I am looking for recommendations, and practical gotchas for implementing text to speech for a blind senior citizen.


Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred edition
Any version from 7.0 on up does a good job.

The person must speak clearly.
I found that people who have accents and often
mispronounce words have difficulty using the program.

You also need a good quality sound card and mic.
Onboard sound does not cut.

---pete---

[Freehold Fred]

Pete,


I think the first thing I am going to try is a text to voice reader only. Then I will be looking for voice activation or voice to text. The default MS and Naturally Speaking would be my first tries.

I suppose a programmable Internet keyboard would be helpful.

How does all of this play out without a broadband connection to the Internet, jic?


Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred edition
Any version from 7.0 on up does a good job.

The person must speak clearly.
I found that people who have accents and often
mispronounce words have difficulty using the program.

You also need a good quality sound card and mic.
Onboard sound does not cut.

---pete---

[mylanta]

I am looking for recommendations, and practical gotchas for implementing text to speech for a blind senior citizen.

At this time I do not know how old the computer is or what versions of Windows, but will find out by next Sunday.

Basicially the text to speech must integrate with a browser (Opera may be a candidate) and email:

1) That can move from location to location with a simple tab or cursor move (mouse not practical)

2) Select/highlight text with absolute minimum of key presses (Ctrl+F9 for MS Natural Reader's Free Version not suitable, no experience with Pro Version) - again mouse not practical

3) I really DO like MS Natural readers ability to convert text to MP3s;).

Incidentally I went to that other BBS in search of the Blxnd Gxy (I will check to see if I have his email or someone, please send me PM) and I see major changes over there that look very interesting. Haven't been there in a long time. Maybe it is time to :kiss: and make up or do I have :brick:in my head?



Fred

Fred try it again without the alcohol, that new BBS is a joke and the changes make it the worst BBS most of us have ever seen...there was a post here a few weeks ago I cannot find on this very subject but we have so many damn forum topics I haven't a clue where it is.

[Terry Hanushek]

Fred

I did a search on our site and found that Robert (the blind guy) called into one of the Paltalk help sessions a couple of months ago (6/7/06). Lina did a great job of recording the 'minutes' --> Wednesday Night PalTalk, 6/7/06 (http://www.kickenhardware.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2654)

In the post, she recorded his web site which is quite remarkable considering his lack of sight.

You should check out That Blind Guy's Web Page (http://members.bellatlantic.net/~polish99)

On his web site, he mentions that he uses Jaws 4.02 from Freedom Scientific. I saw no mention of Dragon Naturally Speaking but he may have switched.

He would be an excellent resource. I'll send you he email address via PM

Good luck with your project.

Terry

[PeteF]

How does all of this play out without a broadband connection to the Internet, jic?

I'm not sure what your question is.
What is jic?
How does what play out?

---pete---

[Terry Hanushek]

Pete

What is jic?
Just in case

Terry

[mommalina]

Pete wrote: What is jic?

Terry answered: Just in case

Thanks. Your computer jargon makes my Gregg Shorthand look easy--what I remember of it, that is. .... :)

Lina

[Freehold Fred]

Thnx for the info and I second the kudos :whistle:to Lina's notes on PT.

Fred

I did a search on our site and found that Robert (the blind guy) called into one of the Paltalk help sessions a couple of months ago (6/7/06). Lina did a great job of recording the 'minutes' --> Wednesday Night PalTalk, 6/7/06 (http://www.kickenhardware.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2654)

In the post, she recorded his web site which is quite remarkable considering his lack of sight.

You should check out That Blind Guy's Web Page (http://members.bellatlantic.net/%7Epolish99)

On his web site, he mentions that he uses Jaws 4.02 from Freedom Scientific. I saw no mention of Dragon Naturally Speaking but he may have switched.

He would be an excellent resource. I'll send you he email address via PM

Good luck with your project.

Terry

[Freehold Fred]

Here is one quick site for BBS shorthands: http://snipurl.com/BBSAbbrev

There will be test next week;)

I should be careful using BBS abbrevs, because while it is true one's intent can easily be misread, it is likewise true that one can attempt to hide behind coded words.

One such abbrev got me into trouble. Or could it have been that the troubled reader who misinterpreted the intent got what he deserved?

On the other hand, sticking to the same old, same old, limits our langauage, our science and our creativity.

Thanks. Your computer jargon makes my Gregg Shorthand look easy--what I remember of it, that is. .... :)

Lina

[Freehold Fred]

Pete,

Now that we have 'jic' figured out, my question was 'do any of these text to speech or voice activated programs work well with dialup as opposed to broadband?


I'm not sure what your question is.
What is jic?
How does what play out?

---pete---

[PeteF]

Pete,

Now that we have 'jic' figured out, my question was 'do any of these text to speech or voice activated programs work well with dialup as opposed to broadband?

I don't see dialup being a problem because I'm thinking that the
Internet connection is only needed for an ocasional update.
I'm not even sure that there are any updates available.
Dragon Naturally Speaking v7 is the latest version I've used
and we never updated it. Works fine out of the box.

---pete---

[mommalina]

Fred wrote
Here is one quick site for BBS shorthands: http://snipurl.com/BBSAbbrev

Thanks. That will come in handy when reading posts.

Lina