Dear Monica; Just like so many areas in health care, there are a wide range of variance in people who have auditory processing disorders. I certainly don't know what is considered typical, I just know about the spectrum they can cover. The new Acapello voices are far superior for most people. I think you will be pleased with the investment. Unfortunately I am in no position to site I have read things as my computers are in total upheaval. I can only speak to my 2 children who were identified as having auditory processing disorders and the fact that they could not follow commands by earlier speech devices using DECtalk and I was told that that was common. I know that many individuals with auditory processing disorders could not retain information presented in SAPI 4 voices and then he still can only use some of the SAPI 5 voices. Sorry I cannot be of more help. I know more about solutions then the research behind them. Smiles. Valerie On Dec 14, 2009, at 3:34 PM, Monica Willyard wrote: > Hi Valerie. I'm probably an odd exception to the auditory processing > disorder group. I don't know what is typical, and I'm learning more about it > as I go. I was only correctly diagnosed this year, as an adult. Like Nicole, > I like the new Acapella voice Bookshare gives us and would love to have all > of my devices and programs use that voice, especially JAWS. I'm going to buy > it for my computer as soon as I can afford it. > > You mentioned that people with auditory processing disorder don't recognize > TTS speech as sound. That confuses me a little. Do you have any books or web > sites you could recommend about this? If there is no information on > Bookshare, I will look for a couple of books to scan about it. I seem to be > backward if this is normal. Then again, I'm blind too, so maybe normal isn't > really applicable. > > I do well using specific types of speech, and there are some human readers I > can barely comprehend. My inability to understand certain readers makes > those books inaccessible for me unless I scan them for myself. That's > something champions of audiobooks probably don't really understand. I look > at the name of the narrator of a book or listen to a sample of the speech > before even considering buying it from Audible. > > I like books that are in a text format so I can use a voice that I > understand clearly. I prefer Braille if I can get it. If not, I need a > fairly constant, very clear, and unaccented voice to cope with reading. When > I have to use a device with a confusing voice, I use my computer to record > books into mp3 files using a voice that I do understand well. Then I put my > good files on the bad device and can function well. > > Knowing what I'm dealing with, and that it will benefit our deaf/blind > members as well, I usually end up scanning books I want to read from NLS > unless they have the book in WebBraille. I often end up scanning my Audible > books too, especially ones that I want to learn from or read in depth. > > Monica Willyard > "The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker > > -----Original Message----- > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Valerie Maples > Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 8:18 PM > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Publishers and Bookshare As a Library > > I have to agree with Judy. As a matter of fact, Nichole would never listen > to a synthetic voice until the acapella voices that are now available on her > device. I don't know anyone who prefers TTS over audio books and most are > more than willing to pay for the alternative. The only people who learn to > accept TTS are those who need a wider range of books or budget constraints > make the other alternative unaffordable. Then there are people with auditory > processing disorders who do not even acknowledge TTS as speech as it is > processed slightly differently in the brain. > > In my opinion we need to constantly be exploring and expanding all mediums > all of text accessibility and in a cooperative effort like Bookshare, I > think that everyone comes out winners. I know that even though I have a > membership now I will probably almost exclusively be a volunteer due to time > constraints, but being a member will allow me to check how certain things > are handled in the final process or view how proofreaders have handled my > scans. > > Interesting dialogue everyone... > Valerie > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On >> Behalf Of Judy s. >> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 2:39 PM >> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Publishers and Bookshare As a Library >> >> I view the disabling of TTS as about as silly as the digital >> rights management. >> > <snip> >> I don't know a single sighted person, other than myself, who will >> willingly listen to listen to a book that they can read by >> listening to it in a synthetic voice. Me? I can't afford >> expensive audible downloads, and the NLS's offerings are very >> limited in my tastes, so listening to books via bookshare >> downloads using either DAISY or Text Aloud has become an acquired >> taste, one I've become used to and actually very much enjoy. >> >> If sighted readers were the least bit interested in hearing books >> read with a synthetic voice, I suspect the market would be >> flooded with that sort of book. Why? It is much cheaper for a >> book publisher to produce that en masse than it is to hire a >> professional reader and studio to produce the master for each and >> every book that becomes an audible book. >> >> I really doubt that sales of human-read audible books would waver >> one whit if ebooks had TTS enabled. It would expand the market of >> ebooks available to the sighted/disabled reader, but that's about it. >> >> Just my opinion. Grin. >> >> Judy s. > > > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of > available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. > > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of > available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.