Self-voicing

A self-voicing application is an application that provides an aural interface without requiring a separate screen reader. Self-voicing applications can be an important form of assistive technology, useful to those who have difficulty reading or seeing.

A prominent group of self-voicing applications are talking web browsers. Traditionally, talking web browsers have been specially created, as was the case with:

  • pwWebSpeak, originally developed by The Productivity Works in Princeton, New Jersey (now obsolete)
  • Simply Web (also now obsolete)
  • Home Page Reader (HPR) from IBM (recently discontinued)
  • Connect Outloud from Freedom Scientific[1]
  • WebAnywhere from University of Washington[2]

A more recent trend has seen the self-voicing capabilities added to mainstream web browsers with free add-ons. In 2004, Opera Software created a self-voicing and speech-recognition extension for the Windows version of their web browser.[3] And in 2005 Charles L. Chen devised Fire Vox, an extension that adds speech capabilities to the Mozilla Firefox web browser on Mac, Windows, or Linux.[4]

A second important category are broader self-voicing applications that function as what T. V. Raman calls "complete audio desktops",[5] including editing, browsing, and even gaming capabilities. These include Raman's own Emacspeak enhancement for Emacs and Karl Dahlke's Edbrowse.

References
  1. http://www.freedomsci.de/prod03.htm
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-23. Retrieved 2016-01-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Opera Sings with IBM's Speech Technology: New version of Opera Embeds ViaVoice from IBM (Opera press release, 23 March 2004). Accessed 2007-02-03.
  4. Charles L. Chen, About Fire Vox. Accessed 2007-02-03.
  5. T. V. Raman, Emacspeak - The Complete Audio Desktop. Accessed 2007-02-03.
  • Edbrowse, a command line editor, browser, and mail client
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