[Athen] other voices for Windows 7

[James A.]

In the UK we would usually direct users to Ivona (http://www.ivona.com/en/voices/) or Cereproc (https://www.cereproc.com/en/storesapi). Both companies provide high SAPI quality voices at a relatively low cost although you may have to purchase in UK£ or Euros.
Ivona is now owned by Amazon and are the voices built into the Kindle Fire HDX devices.

Best wishes

Abi


======================================
Abi James
Assistive Technology Consultant & Researcher
British Dyslexia Association New Technologies Chair (bdatech.org)
Accessibility Group, WAIS, University of Southampton

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Al Puzzuoli
Sent: 09 July 2014 15:58
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] other voices for Windows 7

Hi Robert,
There are several good options out there but unfortunately, "free" is the sticking point. NVDA have  partnered with Nuance to offer the Vocalizer voices. These are quite responsive and of very high quality, but the whole package costs approximately $120.00. You may be able to purchase voices individually for less, but I'm not sure whether or not that's actually possible. Unless your student is dealing with multilingual content, Tom and Samantha would probably suffice. There are other, perhaps somewhat less expensive options available as well such as AT&T Natural Voices; but unfortunately, really nothing I can think of that's free and of any real quality.
Best of luck,
Al Puzzuoli
Information Technologist
Michigan State University,
Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities,  120 Bessey Hall East Lansing, MI  48824-1033
517-884-1915
http://www.rcpd.msu.edu
From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Beach
Sent: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 10:27 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network (athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>)
Subject: [Athen] other voices for Windows 7

Hi all,

I have a student who is wanting to get other voices to use with NVDA.  He is on a Windows 7 machine and has Microsoft Anna, but would like something different.  He likes the David voice that comes with Windows 8, but I'm not sure if he can install it on a Windows 7 machine.  Has anybody tried this?

Also, can anybody give recommendations of good voices, preferably free, for a Windows 7 system?  I haven't played with any of the third-party voices in a couple of years now.

Thanks for any direction you can provide.


Robert Lee Beach
Assistive Technology Specialist
Kansas City Kansas Community College
7250 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS  66112
913-288-7671
rbeach at kckcc.edu<mailto:rbeach at kckcc.edu>

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