Re: TTS for different languages?
Re: TTS for different languages?
- Subject: Re: TTS for different languages?
- From: Daniel Ström <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 06:02:32 +0100
4 nov 2004 kl. 17.42 skrev Matt Budd (Madentec):
My question echoes Saqib's question then. Is this API public?
AFAIK it is not public. I'm an online member of ADC, and have searched
all Apple documentation I could find on the subject of TTS and speech
recognition (SR). I also have friends that are Select members, and they
can't find anything either.
The only docs I can find is how to use TTS and SR in applications, but
no docs on how to make my own voices, speech dictionaries or how to
write a plug-in for another language.
The only problem with these voices is that they are in English,
French, Italian, German, Polish, and Spanish only (for our
requirements, they are missing Portuguese and Japanese).
I'm also interested in this, since my native language is swedish, and I
want to write software for swedish children with certain disabilities
(eg dyslexia, ADHD, Asperger syndrome and autism).
We want to encourage other TTS-engine providers to also provide
similar plug-ins when they port their engines to OS X. Or
alternatively, if we have a 3rd-party TTS-engine with only a
proprietary API, can we code ourselves a bridge to the SM-API?
For example, we have licenses for ViaVoice 6. This TTS-Engine is
Windows or Linux only, but we might be able to port the Linux to OS X.
What do you mean by "This TTS-Engine is Windows or Linux only". IBM
ViaVoice is available for OS X as well, so there's no need for porting.
You can find it here: http://www.scansoft.com/viavoice/osx/features.asp
However it's not only TTS, but also a dictation system. It's mostly
known for it's dictation capabilities, but TTS is built it too.
Take a look at the above link, and look on the bottom of the key
features, where it says: ▪ IBM ViaVoice Outloud Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Technology.
However, I don't think this is an extension to Apple TTS technology,
but rather a proprietary speech engine. I'm not sure though, since I
haven't investigated this thoroughly.
Since they have TTS for the Mac, you might be better off by trying to
license only the TTS part of ViaVoice, instead of the whole package
with dictation.
When we do though, we'd like to also create a SM-API plug in (similiar
to Acapela's) so these ViaVoice voices are available through the same
means as the regular Apple voices. Ideally IBM (who makes the ViaVoice
TTS) would be the ones creating this plugin, but we might be able to
in their stead?
A plug-in that is compatible with Apple TTS would be nice though.
As I wrote in an earlier posting to this list, I've filed a bug
(rdar:// 3648150, filed on 8 May, and still Open/Analyze) about the
lack of documentation for localizing the speech technologies.
Apple will extend their speech technologies for Tiger, by incorporating
a screen reader. They do this because there are laws in the USA (The
American Disabilities Act) that says that they can not sell computers
to schools and authorities unless they have support for disabled
people.
Similar laws will be coming within the European Communities, and
therefore it is very important that Apple act on this as soon as
possible.
If you need those technologies, please file a bug. The more developers
that files bugs, the more likely that Apple will provide us with
documentation.
I'm sorry about the long post! ;-)
Best regards
Daniel Strom
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Accessibility-dev mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden