An AAC app helps to replace speech or assist writing for those with difficulties in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language.
#Ivona reader portable software#
For further information on how AMIS works I recommend that you look at “My experience with using the Daisy reader software EasyReader and Amis” by ictXplore ClaroComĬlaroCom is a new app designed primarily for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). I intend to try out AMIS to read DAISY books when I have time over the Easter holidays as I have had problems downloading this. It is ideal for helping students unobtrusively with a difficult sentence or word. It sits in an unobtrusive floating toolbar which lets you adjust speed, volume and select voices easily and quickly.
#Ivona reader portable trial#
I have also tried out Ivona Mini Reader on a free trial with the Ivona voices and Microsoft Anna. It reads out any text that you highlight. Personally, I prefer to listen to the higher quality voices and will purchase probably two of the voices, one male and one female, to demonstrate to schools when the trial period finishes. Once voices are installed on your computer, Balabolka finds them and you can select and try out the different ones in a dropdown menu which is located through View – Show – Configure Voice.
#Ivona reader portable pdf#
The student can follow the text as it is highlighted and can save to an MP3 or WAV format to listen to later on an MP3 player.īalabolka can read Word and PDF documents and use any SAPI voice on your computer and it too can create MP3 files.I tried this out with the various voices both inbuilt and commercial. It also easily used the higher quality Amy and Brian voices I tried from Ivona. I did have problems downloading the free trial but Ivona were very helpful. WordTalk is an add-in to Word that will read Word documents easily with the built in Microsoft Anna voice. Not all software will accept all voices.You may find that students prefer different voices for different reading tasks such as reading a quick note as opposed to a lengthier text or reading for information as opposed to reading purely for enjoyment. Try the more robotic voices, high quality voices, different gender, different age (children’s voices are available) and different countries and accents (e.g.Welsh, Scottish, Indian etc). Remember you can change the rate and pitch of the voices. If possible, try out a range of voices with the student to see what works best for them. Students will have personal preferences for a the voice. However dyslexics need higher quality voices at slower speeds of 150-180 wpm or even less. Normal readers can cope with 300 wpm and those that have been blind from birth can read at speeds of 400wpm listening to the more robotic voices. It is useful to be able to control the speed of the voice. TTS which uses a bi-modal reading system where the text is highlighted as the words are spoken can be especially useful for dyslexic learners. However “high quality TTS and natural voice were more intelligible than the low quality TTS voices and high quality TTS voices resulted in higher comprehension scores”. They can be much harder to listen to more tiring and some find, more boring. E.A Draffen says TTS voices “can place a greater demand on cognitive resources to facilitate understanding in comparison to natural voices”. Text-to-speech (TTS) and audio can support dyslexic and visually impaired students.
As part of the Inclusive Technologies for Reading course I have explored various ways that “voice” can be used to help students with print disabilities.
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