Hello Susan:
It takes some work to transform a Bookshare book into an audio MP3 book
with a natural sounding text-to-speech reader. Here are some of the
steps that I follow.
(1) I take a Bookshare book into Microsoft Word and save it as a text file.
(2) I then take this text file into a program called TextAloud which you
can get from www.nextup.com <http://www.nextup.com>
you can then save this text output as an audio MP3. You use natural
sounding human voices such as the NeoSpeech voices which can also
purchase from www.nextup.com <http://www.nextup.com>
(3) you can then place these MP3 files on any MP3 player or on a device
like a Victor Reader Stream.
James Nuttall
----- Original Message ----
From: "Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx" <Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:18:40 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: OT: synthetic voice shock
The synthetic voice is certainly not as pleasant to listen to as the
human voice, but as we can all see, it has its advantages. One is that
there are not enough human readers available to read all the books that
Bookshare can give us access to. I just got a Victor stream and even
though the screen reader voice on that device is advertised as human
sounding it sure does not sound human to me. Another advantage to
synthetic voices is that human readers always give an interpretation to
what they are reading by tone of voice or other nuances. NLs readers,
being professional actors, are less likely to editorialize with their
voices, but, especially when reading a work of fiction, they often give
their own dramatic flair and thereby, their own interpretation to the
reading. RFB&D readers, however, are very poor at hiding their opinions
on the subject matter as expressed in their voices. Synthetic voices, on
the other hand, do not interpret. They allow me to decide on my own
interpretation much as I did when reading before I lost my eyesight.
Despite the advantages, though, that robot voice does take some getting
used to. I remember my revulsion at it at first myself, but I got used
to it and I am quite confident that anyone else could get used to it
too. You might want to reassure them that they can get used to it. Also,
there is a website that has examples of some really human sounding
synthetic voices. I visited it a long time ago and I am not sure I
remember its URL and I am not checking it right now, but I think that it
might be something like NaturalVoices.com <http://naturalvoices.com/>.
If not, try variations and similar names. I do not recall if the voices
are for sale, but they are the best synthetic voices I ever heard. In a
message dated 7/30/2008 11:59:10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
slger123@xxxxxxxxx writes:
Hi, possibly OT, but fastest way I could figure to reach booksharians..
I post to a mailing list for support for macular degenerates in
various stages
of vision loss. Explaining how to use Bookshare invokes a major
YECH about
robotic voices. Indeed, the demo on the bookshare website is pretty
bad, far
worse than natural voices that might be less repellant. There
should be a
steady flow of baby boomers becoming eligible for bookshare who
might need some
help overcoming what I have termed synthetic voice shock. see more
just posted
at http://asyourworldchanges.wordpress.com
<http://asyourworldchanges.wordpress.com/>.
so, how can we help? Is there an alternate bookshare book reading
site?
podcast? demo? How can I refer Vision Losers to the most positive
and helpful
introduction to book reading?
Please let me add my appreciation for how much easier Bookshare made
my rite of
passage into partial sight two years ago. I found it easy to get
admitted to
membership then realized how much reading I could do, so went out
and bought
the book reader devices I needed. I'm still a novice scanner with 3
books yet
to be submitted so I especially appreciate the volunteer corps work.
I'd like
to make this possible also for older people to cross the chasm of
assistive
tech.
advice?
susan
"As Your World changes" blog at
http://asyourworldchanges.wordpress.com
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