Using the Computer Voice to Speak the Text

Why is a computer voice provided?
How is the computer voice implemented?
What are the voice requirements?
How do I use the computer voice?
How do I change the computer voice?
What about foreign language eBooks?
What are the limitations?

Why is a computer voice provided?

The computer voice can speak either just the displayed screen or continuosly to the eBook's end. Speaking just the displayed screen allows the user to confirm that they've read the text correctly. Continuous speech lets the student hear the whole story before trying to read it.

How is the computer voice implemented?

The computer voice is implemented using computer text to speech technology. CueLine® ED uses the operating system's speech engines on Windows and OS X. Voices provided by or purchased for these operating system can be used, including foreign language voices. On Linux the program flite is used with the kelvin16 voice. Flite's kelvin16 is a simple, fast, American English male voice.

What are the voice requirements?

Using a computer voice requires additional resources. On Windows a 1 Ghz processor with 512 megabytes RAM is required for a simple voice, and a faster 1.5 Ghz processor for a nice commercial voice.

Windows XP must have Service Pack 2 or above installed. Older versions of Windows need the latest Microsoft Speech SDK, also known as SAPI, which can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/speech/download/sdk51/.

Apple systems require OS X 10.4, Tiger, or newer.

How do I use the computer voice?

To hear just the current page press the Control Key or single click the Right Mouse Button. The intent is to allow the user to page down and read the new text, then listen to it spoken with little hand motion. Using the mouse alternate single clicking the Left Mouse Button to page down and the Right Mouse Button to speak. Using the keyboard alternate pressing the Forward or Down Arrow to page down and the Control Key to speak.

To hear continuous speech to the eBook's end press the Shift Key. Use continuous speech to let the student hear the whole story before trying to read it. It is not intended for the student to follow along with the text when the computer is speaking continuously; only the top of the paragraph currently being spoken is displayed.

To stop the computer voice press any key or click any mouse button. The voice will stop and CueLine® ED will process your request. To simply toggle a speaking voice off press the Control or Shift Key, or single click the Right Mouse Button. The voice activation buttons toggle the voice off if pressed or clicked while the voice is speaking.

When listening to continuous speech the paragraph in which you stop the voice is your new bookmark in this eBook.

How do I change the computer voice?

On Windows and OS X you change the computer voice in the Speech dialog box. If a voice supports changing its speed or pitch you may want to experiment with those settings as well.

Go to the Speech dialog box on Windows by clicking on Start then Settings and Control Panel. In the Control Panel window click on Speech.

Go to the Speech dialog box on OS X by clicking on the Apple then System Preferences. In the System Preferences dialog's System row click on Speech.

Higher quality and foreigh language voices can be purchased over the internet. On Windows in particular the computer voice can be greatly improved by purchasing and installing a commercial voice. Two nice commercial voices for Windows are NeoSpeech's SAPI5 voices Kate and Paul 16.

What about foreign language eBooks?

A computer's text to speech voice is tailored for a single language. If you use your computer's American English voice to speak another language it will try but the words won't sound right. If you install a foreign language voice on your Windows or OS X computer and use the system Speech setting to change over to the foreign language voice, then your computer will know how to speak in that foreign language.

Several companies sell additional voices for Windows and OS X. You will need to purchase a foreign language voice from one of these companies in order to listen to a foreign language eBook. Microsoft's list of these companies can be seen here. Similarly, some companies such as Cepstral sell additional voices for OS X.

What are the limitations?

On first use the computer speech engine may take several seconds to load.
Computer generated speech will never sound as natural as text read by a real person.
On Windows you may want to purchase a nicer American English voice to have smoother and more natural sounding speech.
The nice voices require a faster processor and more memory than the simpler voices.
Foreign language voices have to be purchased.
You have to change a system Speech setting to change the voice, for example from an American English voice to a French Canadian one.
Only a simple American English voice is provided for Linux.