[bksvol-discuss] Re: Auditory Processing Disorder and Reading Accessibility

  • From: Melissa Smith <mdsmith25@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:41:11 -0600

Debby, I'm glad you were able to finally listen to all these voices. They really are good.


Melissa



Debby Franson wrote:
Hi Melissa!

Finally, the end of my TTS saga. Thanks for your patience.

I had my husband listen to the voices at Chela's link, which was:

http://www.loquendo.com/en/demos/demo_tts.htm

and he said that there were graphics to click on, so I understand why I couldn't hear the voices on that page.

Melissa, I followed your link, which was:

http://tts.loquendo.com/ttsdemo/default.asp?page=id&language=en

after upgrading to IE 8 as I had mentioned. I was running Windows Media Player 10, and there wasn't a codec to recognize the wav files last night, so I tried downloading, but that gave me zero byte files.

Today, I upgraded to Windows Media Player 11, and eureka, I got it. I was able to select and listen to all of the voices with your link, Melissa. It was so entertaining. Even the nonverbal sounds fit the voices as well as the foreign voices having the nuance in the voice that fit the speak of any given language spoken by each voice. It was a synthetic party for me.

Thanks for indulging my obsession until I could hear these voices. Even though I have been using computers since 1991, I have always been fascinated with their ability to talk.

Debby

and



At 09:23 PM 12/18/2009, Melissa Smith wrote
Debby, I did have a combo box. Here is a link to the page I was using.
http://tts.loquendo.com/ttsdemo/default.asp?page=id&language=en

Melissa



Debby Franson wrote:
Hi Melissa!

Did you have a combo box to change the voices after following the link:

http://www.loquendo.com/en/demos/demo_tts.htm

On another page on the site, I was able to listen to the samples by hitting the link for the three I mentioned in another message, the English, Russian and Finnish voices, but not for the entire group on this page. On the page I was successful in hearing the voices, I didn't have a combo box, so didn't have to change voices, because they were all in front of me with their links. After I hit each link, I was able to get the dialog box to pop up that asked me if I wanted to open or save the file. I opened it for each of the three voices, but know, of course that I could have just as easily saved each voice sample.

Debby

At 06:02 PM 12/17/2009, Melissa Smith wrote
Debby,
I also use Window-Eyes. Here is what I did. I changed the voice, which automatically changed the text in the box. The page would refresh after I switched voices. After the page had refreshed, I pressed play. A dialog popped up, asking if I wanted to open or save the file. I chose to open it. It took a little while to download, as the files were about 1 MB. Once it ad downloaded, Windows Media Player automatically opened and played the sample text in the voice I selected.

Melissa



Debby Franson wrote:
Hi Chela!

I followed your link, which brought me to a list of all of the voices and text of what they said, but, although I followed the instructions to click on the version to hear the voice both with the enter key and routing the Window-Eyes mouse and clicking with the left mouse button hot key, nothing happened on any of the voices. I was on a different page when I heard Simon. That time, there was a link to the sample, unlike what I found on this page.

Debby

At 02:25 PM 12/15/2009, Chela Robles wrote
Hello everyone, here is a demo page of Lequendo voices they sound quite natural don't you think?
Enjoy and let me know what you all think,
http://www.loquendo.com/en/demos/demo_tts.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: "Valerie Maples" <vlmaples@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 11:42 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Auditory Processing Disorder and Reading Accessibility


It certainly might be indicative of a Central Auditory Processing disorder, only testing can tell for sure.

Valerie


On Dec 15, 2009, at 1:02 PM, Roger Loran Bailey wrote:

For those of you who know something about audio processing disorders I wonder if you can make a guess as to whether I have one. I do not have a problem understanding synthetic voices or any of the talking book narrators, but I seem to have a problem understanding a person talking when there is back ground noise. I do not necessarily mean loudness, but that is a definite problem. I mean even soft sounds like elevator music in the background. I have a very difficult time having a conversation with someone on a city sidewalk. I have to keep asking for the speaker to repeat her or himself and I have noticed that some people become annoyed with me. This is a problem I have always had and for the most part I have not thought about it being abnormal, but when no one else seems to have a problem understanding someone in the exact same environment I have sometimes wondered. The best way I can describe it is to say that it seems to me that the background noise is as important as what
I am trying to listen to and it is a conscious effort on my part to ignore it.
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

The Militant:
http://www.themilitant.com
Pathfinder Press:
http://www.pathfinderpress.com
Granma International:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
----- Original Message ----- From: "Valerie Maples" <vlmaples@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 1:44 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Auditory Processing Disorder and Reading Accessibility


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.



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