Listen To Me

It’s no secret that I love technology that speaks. For me, audible access is the last word. It is, after all, the problem-solver in the evolution of accessible everyday things. A few excellent examples: Talking ATMs, the iPod Nano with spoken menus and the Shuffle’s voice over. I applaud these big moves, and I anxiously await more to come.

At the top of my (soon to be published) Wish List is audible access on the web. Yes, that’s correct. I want websites to talk to me (and you). Why not? Wouldn’t you like the option to listen while the webpage is read to you?

I know how good this could be, because I get a taste of it now using ZoomText speech. Unfortunately, it is not consistent. Way too often, I will ask ZoomText to read a webpage, and it refuses, without explanation.

My wish is, now, your command. Thanks to Odiogo you can experience the beauty of speech, right on this blog. Just click the “Listen Now” button at the top and enjoy!

I’ll say it again--vision- friendly technology is good for everyone!

Thanks for listening --- now talk to me. Do you like this web option as much as I do?

Technology Overload Syndrome

When it comes to learning new technology my advice is always --- one thing at a time. It is good sound advice, but even I cannot always take it. This booming technological world does not always allow me to be comfortable with my current “one thing” before dropping another right on my head.

I am the one who refuses (almost all) software updates because I cannot stand the thought of things changing place on a screen (that I already have trouble seeing). I do not get giddy when the newest version of anything is released, I get nervous. It does not keep me from wanting all the hottest newest things --- I just do best when they come in measured doses.

For the last several weeks I have been sometimes overwhelmed with too much new tech, most of which was not my choosing. It is not a good feeling when everything you need to do takes ten times longer than (the five times longer) it usually takes! Progress moves to a snail’s pace and the anxiety mounts.

It started out with a budget proposal in Microsoft Excel, a program I had not used to any great extent in years. Well it’s not like riding a bike, I can assure you. The last time I used Excel it was 6 versions ago and my computer screen was not quite so magnified back then. It was unrecognizable and quite difficult to navigate at 8 times larger than norm.

It’s a good thing I did not get too cozy with whatever Excel version I was on because the very next week my computer at work was upgraded to Microsoft Office 2010 and all hell broke loose, I mean we were practically leaping from the past into the present. It was a hard landing. Everything in the toolbars looks different --- the drop down lists I had so become accustomed to now look like a lot of cartoon icons I cannot identify. My comfort with Outlook and Word is under siege, but I am certainly not alone in this, all of my colleagues are also adjusting. My adaptation is a little different because when the screen is magnified 8x you can only zoom into about 1/8 of it at a time.

My challenges transitioning to Office 2010 were compounded by the prickly and often outright unfriendly nature of assistive technology. ZoomText (software) the lifeline to my PC which gives me the magnification and speech I need was undergoing its own issues adjusting to this new environment. Text was disappearing when magnified (too much) and the speech now had a funny accent and was mispronouncing every few words. Work was becoming hell -- proofreading a total bitch! Now everything was taking me 15 times longer.

While all this is going on I have to deal with fundraising for Double Up 4 Vision the tandem bike ride I am participating in to support the Lighthouse. I am participating in tomorrow to support the Lighthouse. It is to be set up online using a program by Convio which is not accessible to people using screen readers --- and not that accessible to anyone else either. Following two sessions guided step by step through the many, many steps required to register and start the fundraising process I discover there are two options for fundraising --- the easy way or the hard way. I choose to minimize the torture on this one and instead of using the complicated Convio system I simplify --- sending email notes with this link to my donation page: http://lhi.convio.net/goto/Dorrie


To keep your brain healthy and sharp I know it is essential to keep learning, challenging, stretching your mind. But does it have to give you a headache?

The Speed of Sigth

The Speed of Sight

Recently I received an email with questions pertaining to the “speed of sight”. There was a time, I believed, as many do, that just making print big enough for me to see would allow me to read much in the same manner I read small print. It doesn’t really work that way.

The Question:
Dorrie, as I understand it, you can see gigantic letters on screen and you use a speaking screen reader. What is the time difference for doing the same task? And, how much longer than for a sighted person? The same questions for Braille? I have never seen this discussed, but it must be significant.

My Answer:
I do magnify print to about 10X and I like a lot of speech with my giant words. At work, on a PC, I use assistive software called ZoomText. It is technically not a screen reader, but a text-to-speech engine. At home, I am now on the iMac, which does have a “screen reader” that I mix with big, big print.

It does take me longer to complete tasks that require reading, simply because, it’s complicated. The way I “see” is not fast or easy. My experience tells me that most reading-related activity takes me two or three times longer than it did pre-retinal degeneration, and reading a page in Newsweek, without a computer, could take me as long as 30 minutes.

I was never a speed-reader to begin with, so it would be unfair for me to completely blame bad eyes. It is certainly a major factor, and another major factor is how well I use the technology.

Reading giant words, without the speech option, would slow me down even more, tire me faster, and make comprehension very difficult.

I cannot speak to the experience of a person who is blind and uses a computer with screen reader and no visual access, or to that of a Braille reader.

Like most things, the speed of sight is very much dependent on the individual.

Ground Control to Major Tom

I like to talk about technology. I claim no technical acumen; I am the voice of the purely average user. I do not speak, or understand, tech talk, but I do have tremendous respect for those who do. I just hope and pray they do not speak “geek” to me.

A good technology experience can put you over the moon, without requiring a degree in rocket science. I find no joy in tinkering or toiling over a computer or electronic device, and I know I’ve got trouble when I continually default to the ‘shut down and reboot’.

Last week I decided it was high time I deal with some chronic problems I was encountering with a very important computer program, critical to my work. I had been shutting down and rebooting for months, and felt empowered as I sent off an email to the support desk, anticipating that my problems would be magically corrected with the checking, or un-checking, of an obscure box or two.

The very prompt and polite response appeared to come from another planet, in a completely unfamiliar language. However, it did give me an answer to my problems: I’ll just continue to live with them.

Below, is just a portion, of the alien instructions I received…

“1. Click on the Start button
2. Click on Control Panel
3. If you are using Windows XP Category view click on Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices (if you are using Windows Classic view skip to step 4) 4. Click or Double Click if you skipped step 3) on Sounds and Audio Devices 5. Select the Audio tab 6. Make sure that "Use only default devices" is unchecked 7. Click the OK button

Look for a file called tts.ini. Its location is the following:
C:\\Program Files\\ZoomText 9.1. Open the file in notepad. Look for something in that file that looks like what I have below:

[TextToSpeech]
EnableOnlyDefinedTTS=0

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Speech\\Voices\\Tokens\\VW
Kate 16k]
comment=NeoSpeech Kate - AiSquared engine
VALID=1
FAMILY_GUID=4C46D835-4C95-4b15-9147-48939B6060D3
VOICE_GUID=A7D57D51-E96D-4a0b-97C6-BEC1544F5E8A
ENGINE_NAME=NeoSpeech English [Ai Squared (v2)] ENGINE_NAME_LOW=NeoSpeech English [Ai Squared (v2)] VOICE_NAME=Kate DESCRIPTION=
PBR_RATE=35
PBR_PERIOD=100
PBR_STEP=0
COLUMNPAUSE

In the section that has the following: EnableOnlyDefinedTTS=0 change it to read this:

EnableOnlyDefinedTTS=1

Then save the changes and do a reboot and then see if that helps.”

THEN, TAKE YOUR PROTEIN PILLS AND PUT YOUR HELMET ON!

The Kindle Too?

So much comment is swirling around Amazon’s Kindle 2, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s all good (yes even the bad). Let’s face it – everyone is talking about it – everyone is aware of the Kindle 2! It’s brilliant.

The controversy stirred by the text-to-speech (tts) feature, which was to allow the Kindle 2 to read any ebook “aloud,” is good, too! It put this topic right out front. It seemed to peak when Roy Blount, the President of the Authors Guild, wrote an Op-Ed in the NY Times in defense of authors getting their fair share of the audio rights being infringed upon by the Kindle’s computerized voice. Amazon agreed to only activate the speech feature when authorized by the publisher.

I remain delighted and excited by the Kindle 2 and the literary experiences it can open to me (and to many millions).

With badly impaired central vision, my reading options have been drastically curtailed over the last few years. I am one of the people using “the software” Mr. Blount referred to, a program called ZoomText, which gives me the choice of magnifying print or having it read aloud. In fact, without it, his NY Times Opinion piece would not have been accessible at all to me. Even still, it would not be my favorite way of reading books.

I am an avid reader (buyer) of audio books. Although I revel in the thought and the reality of text turning to speech electronically, I would never choose a “tts” reader over the voice of the author or that of the professional reader. The voice of the reader can change everything for better, and sometimes not.

While I am quite fond of the voice in my computer, and the voice in my iPod, there are inevitably pronunciation errors, pregnant pauses, and instances where it just refuses to read a word entirely. At times, the lack of intonation and inflection becomes mind-numbing. Far from perfect and I dare say no competition for a human being.

Text-to-speech in the Kindle would solve a problem I’m facing right this minute; a couple of books I must read that are not available in audio version. I’ve attempted to convert “The Huffington Post Complete guide to Blogging” from “tts” with the KNFB Mobile Reader – one tortuous page at a time – I do not recommend it. Also, tried to read it under my video magnifier with print enlarged by 10x, so arduous and laborious that comprehension is extremely diminished. Both exercises left me longing for the mellifluous, Greek-accented voice of Arianna Huffington.
Have no fear, Authors Guild, computerized speech is simply an alternative that technology affords us, they will never replace humans in the business of audio book reading.

How are you reading? What are your thoughts on the Kindle 2?