[bookport] Re: Preferring Synthetic Speech to Human Narration

  • From: Sandy Licht <slicht@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 12:54:25 -0500

About 4 months ago, I read The Dark Sun Rises by Denise Williamson and narrated by Peter J Fernandez. The book was gut-wrenching and spell-binding at the same time. What made it almost perfect was Fernandez's excellent narration. If I had speeded up this book, I believe something would have been lost. Synthesized speech could not have done justice to it. If that is all I would have had to read it, of course, I would have still read it. After all, as blind people, we do what we have to do.

At 08:59 AM 7/13/2005, you wrote:

There  is something to be said for an excellently narrated fiction book
especially if the narrator can bring things to life.
For a work of fiction, if done well, it makes the audio book a great
experience.
On the other hand, non-fiction is usually boring as a narrator can only do
so much unless the book is of a lighter genre.


I suspect that something psychological may also be at play here. A book from Web Braille, BookShare, or scanned on a scanner is immediately available. Something borrowed from RFB&D or a NLS library, on the other hand, must be ordered first and then received at a later time. Downloaded books provide immediate reading which massages one's psyche.

Sandy Licht
Phone: 409-898-8218
Jeremiah 29:11 - 14A
11For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They
are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13If you look for me in earnest,
you will find me when you seek me. 14I will be found by you," says the LORD...



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