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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><FONT size=2
face=Arial><blockquote></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>then we<BR>will offer that version for sale as an
add-on to screen readers of the<BR>user's choice. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></blockquote></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>does this mean, then, that you will develop some
propriatary jaws/wineyes/nvda drivers or are you refering to making that one
into sapi?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>----- Original Message ----- </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>From: "Corine Bickley" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:corine.bickley@gallaudet.edu"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>corine.bickley@gallaudet.edu</FONT></A><FONT size=2
face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>To: "DECtalk Discussions" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:dectalk@bluegrasspals.com"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>dectalk@bluegrasspals.com</FONT></A><FONT size=2
face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2011 7:56 PM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Subject: [DECtalk] status of DECtalk SAPI from
Enable Rehab</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT size=2
face=Arial>> Hello DECtalk friends,<BR>> We at Enable, two former students
of Dennis Klatt and his friend/mentor<BR>> Prof. Ken Stevens, learned of an
interest in a version of DECtalk that was<BR>> SAPI compliant. Both of us had
worked for short intervals with Force<BR>> Computers and then Fonix to try to
keep DECtalk alive commercially in 2000.<BR>> However, our efforts were not
appreciated at either company. We both were<BR>> laid off. However, we stayed
in touch with Ed Bruckert who has kept DECtalk<BR>> alive for over 30 years.
Ed was our manager at Force and then Fonix. Sadly,<BR>> Ed is now legally
blind and can only advise, not program. He helps with<BR>> advice as he best
as his memory allows.<BR>> <BR>> Ed has explained that DECtalk has not
made any money for many years. Enable<BR>> will never make any money off of
any version of DECtalk, but in honor of<BR>> Dennis we'd like to keep DECtalk
available. No other company else has any<BR>> interest in doing so. After
much negotiation, Ed was finally able to<BR>> convince Fonix to let Enable
license whatever old copies of DECtalk code<BR>> that we could find. That
cost alone is far more than any profit Enable will<BR>> ever realize from
sales of DECtalk. Also, Fonix owns any changes we make to<BR>> DECtalk code.
They, Fonix managers, are smart. You may conclude that we at<BR>> Enable are
stupid, at least naive, but please be assured that we are well<BR>>
intentioned and want to make DECtalk available to whoever wants it, if<BR>>
anyone does. It seems now that no one does, at least not any version
that<BR>> Fonix will let Enable have access to. However, I can rest easy in
knowing<BR>> that we tried. I'm sorry to all of you that we failed. We wish
you well in<BR>> continuing to use whatever versions of DECtalk you have
access to. It's<BR>> wonderful that those versions still exist - do enjoy
them.<BR>> <BR>> One of the old versions of DECtalk does work with at
least some of the<BR>> voices, such as Paul. That old version is now being
evaluated by the<BR>> Acoustical Society of America's Standards Committee for
intelligibility of<BR>> TTS systems for blind users. If that old version
evaluates adequately (the<BR>> first report will be presented this summer at
an international conference by<BR>> Drs. Ann Syrdal and Taniya Mishra),
particularly at high speeds, then we<BR>> will offer that version for sale as
an add-on to screen readers of the<BR>> user's choice. Both the Paul and
Betty voices are being evaluated. If anyone<BR>> on this listserv is
interested in hearing the samples as well as the other<BR>> synthesizers
included in the evaluation, please access the site:<BR>> </FONT><A
href="http://dudley.research.att.com/tts/TESTS/TTSrateIntelligibility/html/index.h"><FONT
size=2
face=Arial>http://dudley.research.att.com/tts/TESTS/TTSrateIntelligibility/html/index.h</FONT></A><BR><FONT
size=2 face=Arial>> tml<BR>> Sometimes this link is down because the ATT
researchers are accessing the<BR>> results. Please try later if it doesn't
work when you first try it. Several<BR>> kinds of TTS systems are included,
each with a male and a female voice.<BR>> You'll have to re-enter the site
quite a few times to hear samples of all<BR>> the different voices in all the
different TTS systems. The presentation is<BR>> randomized, so there's no way
to know whether you will hear DECtalk or some<BR>> other system each
time.<BR>> <BR>> Again, best wishes to all on this listserv in your
continued use of DECtalk.<BR>> <BR>> corine bickley<BR>> Enable Rehab,
president<BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>>
DECtalk mailing list<BR>> </FONT><A
href="mailto:DECtalk@bluegrasspals.com"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>DECtalk@bluegrasspals.com</FONT></A><BR><FONT size=2 face=Arial>>
</FONT><A href="http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk</FONT></A><BR><FONT
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