Hi Chela!To bad they didn't have interactive demos for all the voices this company offers, but I listened to all that were offered on the page, which were: Simon (British English male), the new Russian female voice Olga, and the new Finnish female voice Milla. I like to listen to the foreign speakers too, because I am interested to learn what languages sound like I have never heard or to see if I can understand what is said in languages I have studied in school. These speech engines are the most human I have ever heard with the emotions reflected in the tone of the voice as well as laughing, crying, sneezine, yawning, clearing the throat, kissing, etc.
Do you know whether these voices are just meant for automated systems? I have found that to be the case with other very high quality speech engines. These companies have really come a long way in natural sounding speech this century.
Debby At 07:32 PM 12/16/2009, Chela Robles wrote
Speaking of Sapi5 voices being natural try: http://www.loquendo.com/en/demos/interactive_tts_demo.htm----------------"If you go without playing the trumpet for one day, no one knows, two days, only you know, and more than three days without practicing, girl you better look out, because everyone will know!" Today, I find myself constantly saying those words, just to get myself going, to not give up, and it works. Since I learned to play the trumpet at the tender age of 10, I have spent so much passion and much diligence with that instrument that I will not give up on it. Sometimes my instrument puts me into awkward situations where I feel like they won't ever end, but the trumpet gives me a lot of hope with the majestic, crystal-clear sound it brings to my ears.---------------- Chela Robles E-Mail: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx MSNWindowsLive Messenger: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: jazzytrumpet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 3:52 PMSubject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Auditory Processing Disorder and Reading AccessibilityHi Kim. Actually, there have been some amazing strides in the development of SAPI 5 voices. Some of them are quite good, almost human. You might be surprised. I suspect that what you have heard are the old Microsoft voices like Sam, Mary, and Mike. Those voices are pretty awful. The newer voices can be adjusted with rate, pitch, and inflection to sound more lifelike. In fact, if you spend a few minutes putting some words into your JAWS or Kurzweil dictionary, you can almost forget that it's a computer talking to you. My voices are clear enough now that my aunt, who hasn't lived around computer speech until this year, can understand it clearly. That's why Bookshare gives us some free voices. They didn't skimp either. They give us high-quality voices that make reading comfortable. I am impressed by this, and it's something Bookshare hasn't really promoted here on this list. I don't particularly like the VictorSoft reading program Bookshare uses. However, I use it because of the voice when I need to learn something. That's saying something because I was a die-hard Kurzweil reader for years. I still use it for pleasure. When I need to concentrate and retain something though, I switch to the Bookshare software and am glad to have it. Monica Willyard "The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput 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.No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comVersion: 9.0.716 / Virus Database: 270.14.111/2569 - Release Date: 12/16/09 13:52:00
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