From: mikef@pacifier.rain.com (Mike Freeman)
Newsgroups: comp.speech
Subject: Re: WANTED: ms-dos text-to-speech
Date: 4 Oct 92 01:46:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: pacifier.1992Oct4.014639.5521
Organization: Pacifier BBS

In article <1992Oct2.060425.18579@uc.msc.edu> eab@msc.edu (Edward Bertsch) writes:
>
>I am curious as to if there is any software available for ibm compatible
>machines running DOS (or window for that matter) that will do text to
>speech.  Ideally, it would be 'sampled' speech as opposed to that nasty
>sounding synthesized speech.  Also ideally, it would not require any
>additional hardware (i.e. it could use the built in speaker) but could
>take advantage of (for example) a sound blaster if it were present.
>
>It could be a stand alone program, although something integrated into
>terminal software would be very good.  (the intended application is
>for a blind guy interested in using a bbs)
>
>Thanks a bunch,
>
>Ed
>
Hello, Ed.

I am Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer
Science, the computer science division of the National Federation of
the Blind (NFB), the largest organization of the blind in the United
States.  We have a great deal of expertise in this area so I feel
qualified to comment on your request.

First, there is more to creating useful speech software for the blind
than simply obtaining text-to-speech translation software.  In addition
to hearing what is presented to him/her on the computer screen, the
blind person must be able to review material already on the screen.
Hence, the software must not only speak what is presented but must keep
a copy thereof or know how to access it in memory and have a command
structure that allows the blind person to review the screen
line-by-line, word-by-word and character-by-character.  In addition, it
is helpful if the software will spell words and phonetically announce
letters (e.g., "alpha" for a) since many synthesizers do not always
distinguish some letters well (m and n, for example).

Second, as Dan Frankowski observes, sometimes the best-sounding speech
systems aren't the best for day-in-day-out production use by the
blind.  The vanila DECtalk, for example, produces *wonderful* speech
but does not speak fast enough for production use nor can it be "shut
up" quickly enough for most blind computer users.  Most of us would
rather have monotonic speech that was very fast, crisp and that stops
**immediatelly** when we tell it to rather than human-sounding speech.
BTW, DEC has come out with a new internal DECtalk card that's
considerably more responsive and faster than was the original.

The SoundBlaster has the same problem:  it's sluggish in responding to
user commands.  As far as I know, only one program, Tinytalk, has a SB
driver, the latest version is TTALK130.ZIP and can be found on many
BBSs.  I believe it's on NFB's own BBS, NFBNET, telephone
(410)752-5011.

Another source of software for speech is on the Internet as
handicap.shel.isc-br.com.  This is a Unix box and has all sorts of
disability-related stuff including scads of speech software.  Most of
this is demo stuff as most companies want good money for
screen-readers.  Tinytalk is perhaps the cheapest at $75 although one
other program written for the Speech Thing, SEEKLINE, is also cheap.

Separate synthesizers (which do not use the PC speaker) tend to work
best as the PC speaker needs to be free for beeps etc. which it was
designed for anyway, not speech.

You have, right there in Minneapolis, perhaps the best resource to help
you in disentangling the labyrinthian world of speech software/hardware
for the blind.  That resource is Curtis Chong, President of the NFB in
Computer Science.  His telephone number (home) is (612)521-3202.  If
you need his address, I can supply it.  He is *extremely* knowledgeable
on almost all aspects of speech hardward/software for PCs and friends.
You might also want to call David Andrews, head of the International
Braille and Technology Center at the National Center for the Blind, NFB
Headquarters in Baltimore, MD.  That number is (410)659-9314 or you can
leave him a message on NFBNET, of which he is SysOp.

Hope this helps.

Oh yes, Messrs Chong and Andrews, as well as I, are blind.

-- 
Mike Freeman <K7UIJ>    |       Internet: mikef@pacifier.rain.com
301 N.E. 107th Street   |         or freeman@watsun.cc.columbia.edu
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Telephone (206)574-8221 |       Loose bits sink chips!