[bksvol-discuss] Re: Perceptual Difficulties, WAS: Re: Re: Table Of Contents

  • From: "Chela Robles" <cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 22:28:09 -0800

I understand fully. Hey does the heather acapella voice work with JAWS if so where can I get her and is it something I must pay for she sounds like she is nice and seems very popular too. Thanks, Chela ----- Original Message ----- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx> 

To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 9:45 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Perceptual Difficulties, WAS: Re: Re: Table Of Contents 



Hi Kim. I've been thinking about how to answer your questions. Auditory
processing disorder seems to involve the inability to distinguish sounds,
interpret them properly, and/or follow their proper sequence. I can
distinguish sounds most of the time. It's the interpretation and sequencing 
that give me fits.

Voices seem to be a black or white issue for me. Either I can understand
them clearly, or they seem to have a fog over them that makes their words
seem all blended together. The closest I can come to describing it is to
tell you to imagine a person telling you about something with a large
mouthful of mush in the way. I have two friends that I can't talk to on the 
phone because I can't understand them. I need to use email or get face to
face so I can touch them or experience their body language to communicate
well.

Using NLS narrators as examples, there is a guy named Tom Martin who read
the DR. Doolittle books and many others in the 70s and 80s. I can't
understand him at all. I can hear him speaking and can identify single words he says. I can follow him for a minute or 2 sometimes if I try really hard. Yet something goes very wrong when it comes to comprehension. Before long I 
feel so foggy and confused.
On the other hand, I can easily follow many of his contemporaries like John 
Stratin, Merwin Smith, or Jack Fox. It's something about the level of
expressiveness in the voice that helps me determine what's going on. It
isn't pitch. It's tone and the range of tones during speech. It's also a
matter of phrasing with plenty of pauses to mark where one thought ends and 
another begins.
I have the same reaction to speech synthesizers. I am so glad Bookshare lets us choose our own reading method. I either like the DoubleTalk voice of the 
Book Port, or, on the other extreme, the Paul Neospeech voice in Kurzweil.
It took me a long time to learn to focus with the Eloquence voice. It was
exercise, just like building up muscles through bodybuilding. I still don't 
use JAWS with Eloquence to read really important things or when I'm trying
to learn something new. I can't handle the Tom voice from RealSpeak at all. 
It's pleasant enough, but I can't focus well enough to follow a story or
article with it. I can understand Jill and Samantha fairly well. Oh, and the Heather Acapela voice Bookshare provides works really well for me. I wish I 
could use that voice in other programs since it's so clear.
If I need to learn something new or complicated, I am most likely to put it on the Pac Mate to read it in Braille. The same is true when reading a list 
of instructions. If you tell me to do something, especially if it has
multiple steps, count on repeating it or having the steps done out of order. It's why my friends hear me typing away when they explain something to me or ask me to do something. I know I'll retain it much better if I write it down 
as they're talking.

Finally, street crossings work ok for me. I just won't cross until I feel
confident. I do accept help whenever it's offered. It's ordering at fast
food restaurants or getting service at a store that has me in a cold sweat. 
I often can't distinguish conversation with my clerk from the conversation
of the people next to me. It all goes into my ears and comes out as a bunch 
of jumbled fragments.

I hope some of this makes sense. It's hard for me to understand myself.
(smile)

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 Kim Friedman
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 11:30 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Perceptual Difficulties, WAS: Re: Re: Table Of 
Contents
Hi, Monica, that must be a bit crazy-making for you. What determines if you 
can listen an understand a voice as opposed to others? Is it the speed of
speaking or the pitch? I know there are voices I like listening to and
others I don't but in my case it's personal preference based on whether I
like the quality, pitch, or timbre of a voice. My ability to understand a
person is unimpaired whether I like or dislike a person's voice. Does this
auditory disorder affect your ability to travel in any way? I know when it
comes to crossing streets traffic can be confusing and speaking for myself, I prefer near-side parallel traffic to give me information and I hate left- 
or right-turn green arrows. Regards, Kim.

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