[Athen] Text-to-speech for medical terminology

[Ron Stewart]

Good addition though currently it only works with MS Word Docs.

 

Ron Stewart

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Paul E. Paire
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 12:51 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Text-to-speech for medical terminology

 

Sean,

 

Great list.  I found out about a new product at the most recent CSUN
conference that you may want to consider adding to your list.

 

Central Access Reader

-          http://www.cwu.edu/central-access/reader 

-          Free

-          Windows (64bit only) and Mac (Mavericks and Mountain Lion)
platforms

-          Synchronizes words (if this means what I think it means)

-          Supports multiple formats; copy and paste content into CAR 

-          Can use multiple voices (it uses SAPI 5 voices so you have free
and commercial options)

-          Has adjustable speech rates

-          Can export to MP3 and HTML including batch export

-          Reads math (Word's equation editor and MathType formats)

 

 

-Paul

 

Disclaimer: I do not work for Central Washington University or have any
affiliation with them.  I only have limited exposure to this product and
have not used it in a production environment.

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Sean Keegan
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 1:22 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Text-to-speech for medical terminology

 

Hi Pat,

 

There are a few options to consider for text-to-speech (TTS) systems that
are both free and paid-versions. Also, if you are on a Windows computer I
would consider purchasing high-quality TTS voices and then you can use a
variety of different TTS applications. If you are on a Mac running OS X 10.7
or later, then you can download good quality voices for free.

 

Here are some apps to consider:

Balabolka

- http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm

- Free

- Windows platform

- Synchronizes words

- Supports multiple formats; copy and paste content into Balabolka interface

- Can use multiple voices

 

Ivona Reader

- http://www.ivona.com/us/reader/

- Free to $300 (price varies on TTS voices selected)

- Windows platform

- Synchronizes words

- Supports multiple formats; copy and paste content into Ivona interface

- LOTS of voices to choose from

 

Natural Reader

- http://www.naturalreaders.com/

- Free to $199

- Windows and Mac platform

- Also has OCR capability at higher priced version

- Synchronizes words

- Supports multiple formats; copy and paste content into Natural Reader
interface

 

Speak Selection / Convert to iTunes

- Free, built into OS X

- Mac platform

- No synchronized TTS with words

- Any selectable text

- Supports multiple voices

 

Ghostreader

- http://www.convenienceware.com/product/ghostreader

- $40 for application

- Mac platform

- Synchronizes words and sentences

- Supports multiple formats

- Can use any TTS voice installed on OS X system

 

 

These are just a few applications that you may want to consider that do TTS
alone. If you are looking for something that provides more of a study tools
environment (highlighting, etc.), then I would suggest checking out Claro
Read, Read & Write Gold, or Kurzweil 3000. All of these systems (except for
the Speak Selection in OS X) allow for the manipulation of the TTS output,
so for technical language you can edit the TTS vocabulary to get the proper
pronunciation.

 

I would highly recommend checking out the Ivona voices. You don't have to
purchase the Ivona reader or any of those products, but the TTS voices
developed by Ivona are amazing.

 

Take care,

Sean

 

Sean Keegan

Associate Director, Assistive Technology

Office of Accessible Education - Stanford University

 

 

 

On Apr 29, 2014, at 5:50 AM, "Erion-Hesse, Patricia A."
<perionhesse at nwacc.edu> wrote:

 

Does anyone have recommendations for a reasonably priced text-to-speech
software that accurately reads medical terminology?

Thanks for your help.

Pat H.

 

Patricia Erion-Hesse, M.A.

Disability Resources Accessible Media Lab Technician  

NorthWest Arkansas Community College

AltText at nwacc.edu

Main office (479) 986-4076

Phone (479) 986-4031

Fax (479) 619-4119

 
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Office Hours:

8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Monday

8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Tuesday - Thursday

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