Singing and Reading

This isn't specifically TTS related yet, but could be...


Electronic Learning Products Wins Wall Street Journal 2007 Technology Innovation Award for Software; Receives Patent

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Learning Products, an educational software company, has won the Wall Street Journal’s 2007 Technology Innovation Award for Software and an overall Honorable Mention among all technologies for its TUNEin™ to READING program, the company announced today. TUNEin™ to READING is an intervention program for struggling readers in grades 3-12. The company was selected from more than 800 applicants and winners were selected by a panel of judges from technology companies, venture capital firms and academia.

The program advances vocabulary, fluency and comprehension through the use of fun, interactive software with real-time pitch tracking. The software is scientifically-based and research-proven to improve reading by more than a grade level in just nine weeks, making it the fastest, most effective literacy software on the market today.

“Almost 40% of America’s students in grades 3-12 are reading below grade level. That’s almost 20 million kids who are struggling with basic reading skills. We have worked very hard with independent literacy experts and confirmed how dramatically and consistently our program works. I am thrilled that the Wall St. Journal has recognized the significance of our accomplishment and the impact we will have on so many failing students,” said Carlo Franzblau, founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Learning Products. “Imagine how frustrated 8^th graders reading at the 4^th grade level feel every single day. Almost every activity in school tells these kids that they are failures. I’m very proud that TUNEin™ to READING gives all struggling readers a reason to believe that they can read and they can succeed!”

Franzblau said that the product’s technology is now patented.

“This has been a milestone month for us, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for the technology powering our unique literacy, language and music products, as well,” he said.

Patent #7,271,329 is entitled “computer-aided learning system employing a pitch tracking line.” The learning system is the foundation for, TUNEin™ to READING, the company’s flagship offering.

“The patent award is a powerful testament to our company’s creative, curious and inventive spirit and confirms that we’re bringing something entirely new and exciting to schools across the country – and making a profound difference in the lives of struggling readers,” said Ken Spiegel, chief operating officer.

The newly-patented technology leverages the power of music to accelerate learning, providing a revolutionary alternative to textbooks and skill-and-drill exercises. Students don headsets with built-in microphones and as they sing, they “see” their voice on screen as a white pitch-tracking line. The software calculates the degree to which they are on pitch, providing real-time feedback through a score. Students sing again and again to beat their score, just like a video game. In the process, the repeated reading and singing improves their vocabulary, fluency and comprehension, three of the key skills recommended by the National Reading Panel.

Scientifically-based research documents significant reading gains through the use of the technology. Literacy experts from the University of South Florida have conducted three years of rigorous “control and treatment” research with nearly 1,000 struggling readers to measure the impact of the TUNEin™ to READING technology. The first two years of research documented students in elementary, middle and high schools improving their reading by more than a grade level in just nine weeks, an extraordinary outcome in the literacy field. The third year of research, sponsored by the Florida Department of Education, focuses on students who are English-language learners. The most recent research documents students who used TUNEin™ to READING in two pilot schools making greater gains on standardized tests than their peers.

After only 12 months on the market, TUNEin™ to READING is up and running in about 75 schools in Florida with early-stage implementations planned or underway in Texas, Chicago, New York and New Jersey. Interest is growing nation-wide as data for the 2005-2006 school year from six Florida counties shows struggling readers who TUNEin™ to READING gained, on average, 1.3 instructional reading levels in just 9 weeks.

TUNEin™ to READING is web-based software. Each 12-month, renewable license costs $249, with frequent upgrades provided free of charge. The software includes embedded reading tests to measure student progress and state-of-the-art speech recognition technology to improve pronunciation. Earlier this year, the software won the Technology Innovation of the Year award from the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.

In a classic case of unexpected consequences, the core technology behind TUNEin™ to READING was originally invented as a learn-to-sing product. Electronic Learning Products realized that the singing software improved reading and transformed it into an educational program.

Electronic Learning Products also designs, creates and markets cutting-edge language and music products powered by the pitch-tracking technology. The company recently released TUNEin™ to MANDARIN, which helps English-speaking students master the “singing language” of Mandarin Chinese. New software teaching Russian, Arabic and Spanish is also in the pipeline.

Electronic Learning Products is privately-held and based in Tampa, Florida. For more information, call Lisa Glazer at 813-732-3767 or visit www.elpcorp.com.

2nd Life for TTS

Virtual worlds open up to blind
Online virtual worlds could soon be accessible to blind people thanks to research by students at IBM in Ireland.

Some estimates predict that 80% of active internet users will be using a virtual world in four years' time.

The company said that it is keen to ensure that blind people are not excluded from an environment that sighted people will take for granted.

The students have designed an audio equivalent of the virtual world using 3D sound to create a sense of space.

They were working as part of the company's Extreme Blue research initiative which brings groups of students together for 12 weeks to solve problem set by senior researchers.

The project - called Accessibility In Virtual Worlds - is what the company describes as "a proof of concept" at this stage, but it will be passed on to IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Centre in Texas for further development.

For their work the Irish team decided to use the Active Worlds online environment rather than the more popular Second Life (which has almost 9.5m accounts) because it allowed them more flexibility.

Active Worlds is a collection of user-made virtual worlds that people can visit via a web browser plug-in. Like many other virtual spaces they let people make many of the artifacts, including buildings, found in them. Full Story...

Neospeech audio book

Saw this press release about new audio book created with Neospeech voices.

ArcheBooks Author MB Weston Launches the “mBook” Audio Book

ArcheBooks Author MB Weston Launches the “mBook” Audio Book with “A Prophecy Forgotten" - Leveraging Digital Techology in an iTune World

ArcheBooks Publishing (www.archebooks.com) recently announced the release of its first “mBook” with author MB Weston's A Prophecy Forgotten -- an Audio Book recorded in MP3 file format. However, this MP3 Audio Book isn’t simply a narrated novel with audio files compressed from traditional CD format into the MP3 format with the narrator itself a digital creation.

Naples, FL, September 16, 2007 --(PR.com)-- ArcheBooks Publishing (www.archebooks.com) recently announced the release of its first “mBook,” an Audio Book recorded in MP3 file format. However, this MP3 Audio Book isn’t simply a narrated novel with audio files compressed from traditional CD format into the MP3 format – no, the narrator itself is a digital creation. This is an example of state-of-the-art Text-To-Speech (TTS) technology, using natural sounding human voice engines created and commercially licensed to ArcheBooks by NeoSpeech (www.neospeech.com).

ArcheBooks’ first mBook title is A Prophecy Forgotten by M. B. Weston, an epic Young Adult fantasy/adventure novel, and one of ArcheBooks’ hottest selling hardcover titles. Robert Gelinas, ArcheBooks Publisher, explains “We chose A Prophecy Forgotten to launch this new program for two key reasons. One, the popularity of the book leverages a fantastic buzz around this first book of The Elysian Chronicles, renowned by parents and teachers for its ‘clean’ nature and great appeal to kids and adults alike. And two, we believe this kind of Audio Book technology is perfect for the ‘iPod Generation,’ who has no comfort-zone issues with downloadable entertainment content, organizing playlists and tracks—in this context a complete novel and its chapters—and enjoying that content while on the go or anywhere.”

Ralph Wolf, ArcheBooks EVP of Sales and Marketing added, “This is a perfect example of the emerging virtual-media entertainment world of today, where the physical media of the CD, the plastic cases, the printed matter, etc. are no longer needed—just the content, in a conveniently downloadable format for enjoyment on universal digital playback platforms, whether that be an iPod, an iPhone, a Zune, MP3 player, a laptop, whatever. There is no waiting for a book to be delivered by the postman, UPS or FedEx. It’s never out of stock or backordered, no shipping charges—just the instant gratification of immediate enjoyment.”

“Immediate Enjoyment” is a relative term, but close enough when you consider that in MP3 format, a 300 page 98,000 word book in hardcover, comprising over 10 hours of audio, now fits nicely in 75 megabytes of uncompressed data, or 64 megabytes downloaded in a compressed Zip file. For the DSL and Cable Internet users, that’s a download of five to ten minutes. For the dial-up user, they’d better be prepared for a wait of up to an hour.

“Another serendipitous facet of Audio Books in MP3,” said Gelinas, “is that the dynamic audio range needed for voice is far less than that of high-fidelity music. Music is normally recorded in a 64 KHz spectrum, whereas voice traditionally has been more than adequate with far less, as telephone systems have been for decades. The smallest MP3 sampling rates are able to achieve dramatic compression ratios yet maintain a clean crisp sound. Hence, goodbye 6 to 8 CDs to listen to an entire book—hello eight minute download.” Free samples of mBook MP3 files are available on the ArcheBooks website (www.archebooks.com). Both the Prologue and Chapter 1 of A Prophecy Forgotten are available to sample for free, approximately 40 minutes worth of audio.

Wolf noted, “Admittedly, a computer generated voice isn’t a voice-over professional or actor performing a reading of a novel. Rather, thanks to our friends at NeoSpeech, it’s a very natural-sounding human voice that reads in a very neutral, dispassionate manner. For some people it’s a voice that takes a few minutes to get used to hearing, but once you do, and the images of the story begin to form in your mind, the voice is no longer the primary stimulus of the entertainment experience, rather the talent of the storyteller who wrote it. And the price of the mBook reflects the distinction from professionally narrated works as well, with complete, unabridged mBooks priced as much as half the price of traditional Audio Books.”

ArcheBooks invites everyone to visit its website and experience the mBook for themselves. Gelinas said, “Good storytelling is good storytelling, whether that be found in a printed book, in an eBook, or listening to an Audio Book. The mediums that serve as the vehicles to share that storytelling content with a wide variety of audiences must be flexible and adaptable to each new communications platform in the ever-evolving digital age we live in.”
M.B.Weston is not only an award-winning writer, but also a talented and motivating speaker. She has been scheduled as a guest speaker at many schools and events throughout Florida.

"A Prophecy Forgotten" (ISBN-10: I-59507-I69-5; ISBN-13: 978-159507-169-9) is available now. MB Weston's next book, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, will be available in December 2007. Weston is also available for book signings and speaking engagements. She can be reached at 239-821-3769, by email at mbweston@elysianchronicles.com, or online by visiting www.elysianchronicles.com.

Acapela's Arabic Push

10 years ago nobody talked about Arabic, but a lot of things have changed to make Arabic an important language:

• Islamic Terrorism has raised the profile of Arabic speaking countries, and increased the importance that the rest of the world learn to understand and work with these countries.
• The Iraq war has often highlighted the need for Arabic speakers in the West.
• The world is Flat trend
• Oil makes the world go round

While Chinese may be the most important emerging language for companies in the West, Arabic is close behind.

Acapela Group was very forward thinking in developing their Salma and Youssef voices (available at http://nextup.com/acapela.html )

Acapela, speaking Arabic around the world

Acapela Group, the number one supplier of speech technologies across Europe and the Middle East, announces today its sixth participation at Gitex, the international tradeshow for new technologies in Dubai.

Confirming its position as market leader in the Middle East, Acapela includes Arabic as one of its standard languages in the group’s product portfolio throughout various industry sectors.

In the strategic telecommunications field, Acapela Telecom offers differentiated solutions to operators, integrators, software editors, platform manufacturers and service providers. Acapela’s Arabic voices are used by numerous telecom partners such as Emerging Technologies, Globitel, ATSI, Speechworkers, BhartiTelesoft, Alcatel, Atos Origin, Intervoice, Siemens, CNS, Djibouti Telecom, Allied Soft and Interactive Intelligence.

With continued commitment to the Middle East’s accessibility community and with the support of main distributors, Nattiq Technologies and Medialog, Acapela continues to take the lead in this field.

The group’s wide product range makes it possible to deploy high quality speech synthesis to a large number of applications including: voice portals, unified messaging, contact centres, talking web, talking dictionaries, educational software, e-learning programmes, accessibility tools, embedded systems etc.

Acapela’s speech solutions integrate voice and data to provide the perfect media for IT and telephony convergence, giving operators, integrators, software editors, platform manufacturers and service providers a strong framework to build innovative, user-friendly and profitable products and services.

Denver Professional Hears Books, Recipes and More with TextAloud and Bookshare.org

View a PDF file for this press release

CLEMMONS, NC and Denver, CO - Julie M. of Denver, Colorado is an accomplished musician, performer and social worker who loves to read, cook, podcast and surf the Internet - and whose blindness doesn't slow her down for even a moment. Thanks to tools like NextUp's Text to Speech software program TextAloud, and in conjunction with resources like Bookshare.org, Julie can quickly and easily listen to everything from the latest bestsellers to online recipes.

TextAloud is an easy and affordable software program from NextUp Technologies (www.NextUp.com) that converts text into spoken audio files for listening on a PC or portable device. The program has become increasingly popular with users like Julie M., as well as blind and visually disabled users worldwide, thanks to its natural and human-sounding voices, a welcome alternative to the more traditional or robotic-sounding readers.

For individuals like Julie, Bookshare.org is the perfect complement to TextAloud. Bookshare is an online community that dramatically increases access to books for individuals who are visually impaired and otherwise print-disabled, enabling the legitimate and legal sharing of book scans contributed by Bookshare members as well as directly from publishers. TextAloud Text to Speech software works seamlessly with this resource, as it enables Bookshare members to then export those books to audio files that can be played on anything from computers to iPods® and other portables. The text read aloud via TextAloud offers high-quality, realistic and human-sounding voices which are a far cry from the less naturalistic, more 'robotic-sounding' voices of decades past.

"I love to read, and with Bookshare.org, for only $50 a year, I can download all the books I want," Julie comments. "And by using TextAloud to read them aloud to me, I get voices that are better and much more interesting than those for other screen readers." Julie's favorite voices with TextAloud include such premium voice choices as 'Heather' from Acapela®, 'Ray' from AT&T Natural Voices™, and 'Paul' from NeoSpeech®.

"TextAloud also captures the Clipboard," says Julie, "which is handy when doing internet research." TextAloud also easily saves files to MP3 and WMA formats, which is especially useful for Julie's busy schedule not only as a social worker, but as a musician and performer as well. "It's perfect for commuters and others on the go," she adds. Julie is also an avid podcaster, so when she does research for her show, she listens to web and e-mail content via TextAloud, and also uses the program to save the content for later use and review as well.

But TextAloud isn't just for books. As an avid cook, Julie also cleverly uses TextAloud to read her recipes aloud from the Internet or her other favorite resources. She then easily plays back the files while cooking in the kitchen on her MP3 player or via a dub she has made to cassette tape, to remind herself of the ingredients and directions.

Lisa Friendly, Manager of Bookshare.org for Benetech, is delighted to see that Bookshare subscribers like Julie are pioneering the ways in which TextAloud can be used to optimize their reading experience by tailoring it to their individual preferences. "What a great idea to have the recipe read to you while you're cooking, or to be able to continue reading your book while you're folding the laundry. With a naturalistic sounding voice, the experience doesn't diminish from one reading method to the next."

About Bookshare.org
Sponsored by Benetech, Bookshare.org is an initiative that dramatically increases access to books for the community of visually impaired and print disabled individuals. Bookshare takes advantage of a special exemption in the U.S. copyright law that permits the reproduction of publications into specialized formats for the disabled. Bookshare.org also serves organizations such as the state, local and federal educational system, the rehabilitation system, specialized nonprofit agencies and various governmental units that provide accessible materials to people with disabilities. For more information, please visit www.Bookshare.org.

About TextAloud
Highly useful for students wanting to maximize study time or listen on the go -- and perfect for Back to School season -- TextAloud has been featured in The New York Times, PC Magazine, Writer's Digest, on CNN, and more. Hailed by critics and users alike, TextAloud is priced at just $29.95, and is compatible with systems using Windows (R) 98, NT, 2000, XP and VISTA. The program is available for fast, safe and secure purchase via http://www.nextup.com/purchase.html.

NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium voices from AT&T Natural Voices (TM), NeoSpeech (R), Nuance (R), Acapela (R) and Cepstral (R) for the most natural-sounding computer speech anywhere. Available languages include US English, UK English, Indian Accent English, Scottish Accent English, French, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, Castilian (European) Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Belgian Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, and Arabic.

About NextUp.com
NextUp.com, a division of NextUp Technologies, LLC, provides award-winning Text to Speech software for consumers, business customers, educators, and those with visual or vocal impairment, or learning disabilities.

In addition to TextAloud, NextUp.com markets other innovative Windows software designed to save time and deliver vital information. NewsAloud™ is a talking personal "news agent" that finds the stories users want, and then reads them aloud or to portable audio files. WeatherAloud™ is a weather application that lets users select and listen to personalized weather forecasts, while StocksAloud™ reads stock updates and related news headlines aloud for specific companies of interest. NextUp Talker is an easy and affordable program that allows people who have lost their voices to use the latest in high-quality computer voices to communicate with others. Most recently, NextUp introduced a new text reader, AbleReader, available with the AT&T Natural Voices (TM) for use on Mac computers. Information on AbleReader is available at http://www.AbleReader.com.

NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium voices from AT&T Natural Voices (TM), NeoSpeech (R), Nuance (R), Acapela (R) and Cepstral (R) for the most natural-sounding computer speech anywhere. Available languages include U.S. English, U.K. English, Indian Accent English, Scottish Accent English, French, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, Castilian (European) Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Belgian Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish and Arabic.