No…I’m not talking about the “inner voice”, the famous personification of intuitive understanding that leads to moral or spiritual epiphany, but an artificial and definitely monotonous voice that shadows every keystroke I make on my PC’s input system.
Like many relationships we have, my bond with the Text To Speech (TTS) system, that helps me work on the computer with almost equal ease of someone who could see, is fraught with mixed feelings…. Love and hate, to be precise.
At the core of a blind person’s ability to work on the computer there is the TTS, the larynx that picks up the content on the screen and reads it aloud for the benefit of the blind person.
This voice is part of a software system called screen reader that identifies textual content on the computer monitor and converts it into voice. The screen reader is created so intuitively that I can not only find my TTS reading the content as I type, it also reads every word or sentence the curser picks up as it moves across the screen. Depending on my familiarity with the software, I can customize it any which way I want. For instance, I can make it read only sentences continuously or mute the keyboard echo that mercifully can stop the PC blabbering as I type a sentence or a word.
This is one technology the blind has made for the blind and so, it is not only dependable on most applications like word documents, Excel spreadsheets, webpages etc, but has transcended the PC and works even better on Smartphone’s and tablets.
Of course, the effectiveness of this technology depends on the friendliness of software/tools used to develop third party applications functioning on the devices or the content developed by news portals or email services which are governed by Web Access Guidelines (which most people comply with).
Those of you who wonder how a blind person could have worked on an article (as a journalist) and written his book, the screen reader is my secret; the one tool that makes me feel equal with everyone who had discovered the magic of words.
Of course, with every advantageous technology come a few annoyances. Like the mobile phone for instance. In pre-cell phone days, a marketing or sales executive could have disappeared from her workplace the moment her shift gets over and relax in the knowledge that there wouldn’t be a call from her boss until the next morning. That’s no longer the case as mobile phones and laptops have bulldozed into our personal space. Yeah…we hate them a bit for such levels of intrusion, but in the same breath, we all could relax when our children get stuck in schools and their teacher or fellow parents send us a text message informing us about their safety.
The same way, albeit in a lighter vein, I often think of the intrusion the TTS has made in my own life. Imagine the constant babble of a non-human voice that sounds varyingly from mocking you to irritating you?…almost like a child that throws up tantrums. Candies won’t work here.
The TTS, while helping me compose reports, stories or documents, would also rudely cut into my thoughts and recollections. Think of this artificial voice repeating the request “hide wider space, hide wider space”, going on while I struggle for a word or a phrase to complete the idea or narrative. Squeezing the larynx is out of the question as you know.
Since most TTS systems are made in American or British accent (or at least the ones I use), the way they read Indian names, including my own, would evoke laughter in anyone who happened to listen to it for the first time. The problem for regular users though is the lack of learning the correct pronunciation of some names. After all, there are some rare names even in our own cultural traditions, which could change with the way they are spelt. For instance, consider the name Jaswinder…Listening to my software read this name several times, I’m bound to forget the original pronunciation and end up remembering it as Jazz Winder!!
Laugh or frown at the voice, it’s harder to live without it.
**The Association of Persons with Rare Eye Diseases (APRED) has been formalized as a group under the Organisation of Rare Diseases India (ORDI). Please visit the organisation’s website at apred.ordindia.org for further information and to become members/volunteers.
Meera Lakshmanan said:
Enjoyed reading the post; as the saying goes, where there is a gain, there is a pain too. I think for the enormous good the TTS is doing the blind community, the hindrance is something which has to be borne; but I am amazed at the speed with which any VI listens to the TTS even though they are learning the foreign language in which the TTS is available ie English. Awesome human mind!!!
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L. Subramani said:
Most people have this idea that the blind or persons with disability only regret about their condition. This is so untrue. In fact, I guess the kind of opportunity such as the one provided by the TTS makes us enjoy the way we work and live.
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jacqueline colaco said:
subramani, you, madhu singhal and venkatesh former director of add (i) are the three visually impaired folks i’ve met and interacted with. you are are bubbles of vitality in your respective pursuits which are simultaneously intellectual, academic and in outreach to improve and expand on opportunities to improve situations for those who have visual impairments of different kinds. examples to us…BEATITUDES OF THE DISABLED
Blessed are they who don’t shun me
Just because I have a disability
Blessed are they whose concern for me
Goes beyond pity and charity
Blessed are they who make me feel
That I should be given an equal deal
Blessed are they who think I should be
Given a chance to develop the skills in me
Blessed are they who encourage me
To overcome the embarrassment of disability
Blessed are they who don’t hide me away
Just because I am different from they
Blessed are they who because I am blind
Don’t also think I have no mind
Blessed are they who do not balk
When I dribble all over or struggle to talk
Blessed are they who are patient and kind
Knowing it takes time to work things in my mind
Blessed are they who looked away
When I was clumsy at mealtime today
Blessed are they who put themselves out
To include me too in what they’re about
Blessed are they who give me way (in a queue)
Knowing I can’t stand as long as they
Blessed are they with a cheery smile
Who stopped to chat for a little while
Blessed are they who see in me
A person of WORTH & ABILITY!
(adapted from Beatitudes of the Aged) by JACQUELINE COLACO
Email: jacolaco7@gmail.com
Co-Founder Arthritis Foundation (India) – http://www.arthritisfoundation.in
Volunteer, The Association of People with Disability http://www.apd-india.org
Hon. Treasurer, Seema Nazareth Endowment for the Girl Child – SNEGC
Bangalore Co-Organiser – Global Walk For India’s Missing Girls http://www.petalsinthedust.com
‘THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR’
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