Hi Jim, Yeah, until I ran this poll I had no idea of the large diference in opinions about speech output. Your mention of the Tom synth by Scansoft is a great example. Most people generally like the voice, and you don't like it. On the other hand you thought the Accent SA sounded great, and at the time it was out I couldn't stand Accent speech. I baught a Dectalk Express the first moment I got enough SSI saved up for one. None of the opinions expressed is right or wrong, but it is interesting to note which speech systems have wide support and which ones didn't do as well. I think allot of it has to do with our first exposure to one technology or another. For example, I had used Dectalk PC and Express moddles years before Eloquence came along. The first time I heard Eloquence demoed I thought it was the worst sounding synth on the planet. I couldn't imagine anyone liking it, and felt Dectalk was the only good sounding speech synth. My opinion was primarily based on that was what I was use to using day after day, and my first dos exposure was with a Dectalk PC. Now, that hardware Dectalk's are all but forgotten, and younger blind users are just starting to use Jaws their first exposure is to Eloquence. As seen by the posts on the list those who came to the computer with Eloquence as their first synth widely regard it as good, and have difficulty with other speech systems, and don't think as highly of Dectalk speech as I do.
Jim Kitchen wrote: > Hi Thomas, > > The first synthesized speech that I ever heard was on my Atari 800 XL home > computer. There was a software package named Sams. It was not really a > screen reader, but it would try to say anything that you typed in. You know > the old PC before sound cards only had a mono channel speaker, but the Atari > 800 like the Commodore 64 had a four channel sound mixer. So it could do > better game sounds and do synthesized speech. Sams sure was fun to play > with. It really would try to pronounce anything. None of the spelling it > stuff if it didn't know how to say it. > > My first screen reader was Jaws for dos version 1.0 with an Accent stand > alone synthesizer. > > It is really weird that everyone has there own likes, dislikes and can > understand different speech better or worse. Personally I never liked the > DecTalk and am not crazy about Eloquence. I did like the Accent S A and am > very happy with my USB Triple Talk. But my favorite voices to use while > playing games is AT&T Lauren and AT&T Charles. The Neo Speech voices are ok, > but Scan Soft Tom to me is one of the worst sounding sapi5 voices. Well > after the free Microsoft ones that is. <grin> > > BFN > > Jim > > The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.kitchensinc.net > (440) 286-6920 > Chardon Ohio USA > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
