[Athen] other alternatives to Kurzweil?

[Robert Spangler]

It's true.  No matter how human the voices sound, and they're actually
pretty good nowadays, it is still a computer-generated voice.  Personally,
I prefer computer-sounding voices because human voices do not sound good
when sped up.  But I'm blind and we have different needs.


On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 3:36 PM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>
wrote:


> Kurzweil comes with quite a few voices, and you can download extra voices

> from a lot of different places.  The problem is not the voices, but the

> student.  And it may be difficult, but they will need to figure out how to

> make this work for them.  My question would be to ask them how they like

> the voice on their iPhone (Siri).  I’ll bet they are doing fine with that

> one, and it is very similar to other voices out there.  It takes some

> getting used to, for sure, but in order to be successful, they will have to

> keep trying.  When I have a student complain about the voices, I suggest

> they switch to one with either a British or Australian English voice.  They

> actually report back to me that these voices sound better to them.  It is

> definitely worth a shot. I also, for LD students, often recommend

> VoiceDream reader.  It comes with over 300 voices.  Many of them are very

> very good.

>

>

>

> Every semester I get at least one student who insists that they can’t use

> anything but a human voice. We do not have the option of providing that,

> but they always have the option of buying audible books instead of regular

> books if they want.  Learning Ally is a good source, but the selection may

> be limited or may be older versions.

>

>

>

> *Susan Kelmer*

>

> *Alternate Format Production Program Manager*

>

> *Disability Services*

>

> *University of Colorado Boulder*

>

> *303-735-4836*

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Kevin Andrews

> *Sent:* Monday, September 10, 2018 5:00 PM

> *To:* athen-list at u.washington.edu

> *Subject:* [Athen] other alternatives to Kurzweil?

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

>

>

> I met with a student who I've seen before. They are finding the voices

> very difficult with Kurzweil and from our discussion, they have tried a

> variety of voices, different rates of speech, etc, and reported disliking

> the robotic-sounding voices, not maintaining inflection appropriately, etc.

> We talked about Learning Ally, but just given a couple of the titles, I

> don't know this will be feasible since LA does not always carry the

> titles--as is the case for the one title they were able to give me already

> thus far.

>

>

>

> Does anyone have any other suggestions? It seems computerized voices are

> problematic for the student. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated

> here.

>

>

>

> --

>

> Best,

>

> Kevin Andrews

> Pronouns: He/Him/His

> Accessible Technology Coordinator,

> Scribes and Readers Coordinator

> Disability Resource Center

> University of California, Santa Cruz

> Website: drc.ucsc.edu

>

>

> Direct Line: 831 459-1262

>

> Please allow 24 hours for a response. For immediate needs, contact the DRC

> main line by phone at 831-459-2089.

>

>

> Confidentiality Notice:This e-mail communication and any attachments may

> contain confidential and privileged information.If you are not the intended

> recipient(s), you are hereby notified that you have received this

> communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination,

> distribution or

> copying of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.  If you

> have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by

> replying to this message and deleting it from your computer.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> athen-list mailing list

> athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu

> http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

>



-- 
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20180911/031da84d/attachment.html>