Its not just V.I.
Going back to the original topic of dyselxia, are there any alternatives that may assist. If reading/writing is a problem, how about providing a mini podcast of content?
Is there any software out there that can convert text into a decent audio file?
(Just some thoughts, haven't looked into them)
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Pixeldiva's got automatically generated mp3s from talkr.com on her blog:
http://pixeldiva.co.uk
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| eatyourgreens wrote: |
| Pixeldiva's got automatically generated mp3s from talkr.com on her blog:
http://pixeldiva.co.uk |
Cool! The voice isn't half bad either
And what do people think of this? Is it useful whether dyslexic or not?
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| rosiesherry wrote: |
| Is there any software out there that can convert text into a decent audio file?
|
(1) A screen-reader in conjunction with Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
(2) An OCR program such as Omnipage
are a couple of things I've tried.
.
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| rosiesherry wrote: | ||
Cool! The voice isn't half bad either
And what do people think of this? Is it useful whether dyslexic or not? |
I'm not sure who it's aimed at.
A person with a screen reader, talking browser, etc. wouldn't need it and, of course, you can't navigate a sound file (well, I assume you can't).
So, as I say, I can't see who would benefit.
.
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| Jake wrote: |
| So, as I say, I can't see who would benefit. |
I'd imagine dyslexic users would benefit the most: they may struggle through the navigation etc but when confronted with a wall of text may well find it easier read out to them.
It may well offer less features than a screen reader, but it does offer an alternative...
Jack Pickard The Pickards Information Services| Blog | Twit
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Here's a previous discussion of this, including a link to something similar that the British Museum are doing.
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| Quote: |
| Is there any software out there that can convert text into a decent audio file? |
Talklets will also create an audio Podcast of any RSS feed.
You can hear the quality of the voice here:
www.talklets.com
If you're interested I can make a demo podcast of a feed for you...
Last edited by Phil Teare on 16 Nov 2006 06:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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demo:
[Edit sorry had to remove]
pm me for further or go to www.talklets.com
Last edited by Phil Teare on 17 Nov 2006 02:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Jake wrote: |
| I'm not sure who it's aimed at.
A person with a screen reader, talking browser, etc. wouldn't need it and, of course, you can't navigate a sound file (well, I assume you can't). So, as I say, I can't see who would benefit. |
Anyone who prefers to listen to text instead of reading it.
Whether anyone actually uses it is anyone's guess, but it was very little effort to set up, and zero effort to maintain, so I figured it was worth a shot.
It's obviously not the only thing I've done to make the site accessible, and it's not intended to replace a screen reader - it's just an alternative way of accessing the content.
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Well defended PixelDiva.
I agree with everything you say.
Re navigation:
Many dyslexics (myslef included) have very good visual awareness. So although it may take us a while to first learn the navigation layout, we can then rembr where the link for 'x' is. As long as the layout doesn't change from page to page of course.
If you take six times longer to read the navigation of a site, thats still doable. If you take six times longer to read the large block of content, you could litterally be there for hours. And in practice becomes impossible without AT.
Which is pretty much JackP's point I think.
There is actually good evidence to show that you are likely to have greater visual awareness if you are dyslexic, than if you are not. This is born out of cognitive assessment stats, BUT also in neurologic studies measureing dedicated brain areas, physically being larger in dyslexics (for visual prossessing). The same volume of brain on the oppissite side deals with language. This is often physically smaller.
Lots of interesting stuff done by GF Sherman et al, over at Harvard since the late 80's, re other brain morphology studies which can help add more concrete 'feel' to the science behind dyslexia...
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Spending most of every day in front of a computer monitor, I get fed up with reading text on a screen, just like I get fed up with typing now.
Fix for reading articles: print it, let a screen reader read an article to me or use Talkr or TextAloud to create an mp3 for me to listen to.
Partial fix for typing: Naturally Speaking.
Jon
Jon Gibbins, dotjay.co.uk, accessibility.co.uk wiki.
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| Quote: |
| I get fed up with reading text on a screen, |
And this is the good bit about dealing with dyslexia. Most folk who don't have dyslexia benifit from the AT designed for dyslexics. So it often makes sense to add such options as web-based text to speach even if you don't give two hoots about that demographic (which I know isn't the case in here, but may persuade whoever holds the purse strings in your company)
Oh BTW I fixed the demo link (I really should check before posting, sorry):
http://217.199.172.190/PodTalk1_01/default.aspx?RSSURL=http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot&TBID=19dd107
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