Have you ever wondered how text-to-speech voices are made? A recent post at The Assistive Technology Blog features a video from The Verge that discusses how text-to-speech videos are produced. One of the most well-known applications of text-to-speech is Apple’s Siri. In the video, you’ll meet the voice behind Siri. The video also features Nuance, the makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Category: Accessibility
Ruby Slippers Take You Wherever You Want to Go
In a recent post at one of my favorite library blogs iLibrarian, I read about some Ruby Slippers. I was amazed at what these oxfords, with bright red laces could do. According to Lambert Varias at Technobob:
These shoes won’t take you home when you click your heels, but they will help you get there. Made by British artist Dominic Wilcox, the No Place Like Home shoes points the wearer to the right way via the magic of GPS.
The shoes have a GPS receiver on the heel of the left shoe that can be used to punch in an address. Once the receiver knows where you want to go, LEDs on the left shoe indicate the direction to take, while a line of LEDs on the right shoe provides a rough estimate of proximity to the destination.
I couldn’t help but wonder if shoes such as these would be of benefit to individuals who are blind or visually impaired or the elderly who experience Alzheimer or dementia.
A little bit of research and I discovered this video which shows that GPS shoes are being used to give dementia sufferers freedom and allows caregivers to keep track of them.
iOS 7 Has Many Useful Features for All Users, Regardless of Ability
Recently Apple released the new mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 7
I received an alert about the upgrade and decided to install it on my iPhone. One of the things I noticed almost immediately was the cleaner, less cluttered look. The interface is totally redesigned.
Although my iPhone is the first Apple product I’ve purchased or used, I’ve wasn’t really aware of Apple’s commitment to accessibility in its products. In every iOS release including iOS 7, Apple has been committed to accessibility. The operating system builds on existing accessibility features such as Speak Selection, Guided Access, Assistive Touch, Zoom and VoiceOver. It also includes a number of new accessibility features that will benefit users with disabilities.
One feature that can benefit people with visual impairments is system wide large font. With this feature enabled a user can select a larger font size for use in all compatible apps; the only caveat being that app developers must build in support for this feature. Once widely implemented by app developers this feature will make it easy to have the perfect text size in all your apps. Instead of selecting a preferred font size in each app users will be able to choose a font size once for all their compatible apps.
Not just individuals with vision impairments will appreciate the new wider fonts, As I grow older and my vision changes, this is a feature I appreciate.
WINAHEAD 