- From: Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 15:58:23 -0400
- To: Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
- Cc: User Agent Guidelines Emailing List <w3c-wai-ua@w3.org>, Janina Sajka <janina@afb.net>, Peter Verhoeven <pav@oce.nl>, kerscher@mail.montana.com
at 05:56 PM June 15, 2000, ian wrote: quote I'm not comfortable with a range that high, since for 50% of the tools sampled, that's the maximum rate. I think the minimum req should be "somewhat less" than the max rate of some tools. But I'm not a pro, so I don't feel too strongly about it. unquote aloha, ian! while i respect your caution, i am aurally dependent, so i do feel extremely strongly about this issue -- especially if i am attempting to use a workstation in a library or archive that has loaded a self-voicing browser as a means of accommodating a class of their patrons... what is it, after all that we are doing? we are promulgating Web Content ACCESSIBILITY guidelines, and if we are to set a maximal and minimal range for rate of synthesized speech, it is incumbent upon us to: a) ascertain the average highest speech rate allowable for software synthesizers in context, which is to say, how they are deployed in the real world, and offer the average as our minimal requirement (almost all of the software speech synthesizers are licensable) b) ascertain the average lowest speech rate allowable for software synthesizers that are available to classes of users who need supplemental speech in order to process information (i.e. low vision users using speech in conjunction with screen magnification and persons with certain types of dyslexia)... if we, as you suggest, simply throw out the numbers i collated, we will be doing a major disservice to those who interact with the web in an exclusively aural environment, and failure to take this into account would not only be a grave error, but the foundation for a minority opinion and a lot of criticism when we recycle through Last Call... i am not trying to cow you into using my means of ascertaining a minimal high rate, only pointing out that, for anyone who interacts with the web in an exclusively aural environment, the ability to control speech rate is the equivalent of being able to change the font size, font family, and the size of the window... it is a serious issue, and deserves the serious attention of the working group... note, as well, that i CCed the post to 3 people who have an enormous amount of experience with users who synthesized speech, both as their primary (or even, as in my case and the case of anyone with neuropathy, as well as the more than 30 percent of blind people who do not or cannot read braille) means of obtaining information, or as an indispensable supplement to what they are able to perceive visually... i am holding firm and fast to 700 wpm as the minimal requirement for this checkpoint, as i believe you would, ian, were the tables turned... as for the samples provided, those are the only 4 software speech engines to which i have recourse -- they just happen to be the 4 most widely deployed, although there is a sizable minority of DECTalk Access32, a copy of which i do not own) and the lowest maximum rates -- that of the MS Speech Engine... my proposal called for other WG members who have access to other software synthesizer provide information about their speech rates to the list as well, but a speech-enabled browser needs to have robust a speech engine as possible, otherwise, it is just a toy for the sighted and those whose eyeballs are otherwise preoccupied 1. single language support (the version of the MS Speech Engine i have is US English only) -- i'd be interested in hearing if dick or tim or someone else at MS could let us know if the rates available to the user change when the language to be synthesized is changed? it doesn't in Eloquence, ViaVoice, or Orpheus 2. intention -- the speech engines developed outside of the AT world tend to be utilized as "powertoys" -- using the MS Speech Engine, for example, without a screen reader, one can get Eudora 4.3x to speak a number of the header fields if the user so chooses what we are discussing here isn't simply "wow! wouldn't it be cool if i could have this page read while i make a sandwich, but providing access to a range of users who need to be able to adjust the speech rate over 500 wpm in order to be productive... gregory. --------------------------------------------------------------- BIGOT, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. -- Ambrose Bierce --------------------------------------------------------------- Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net> Camera Obscura <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html> VICUG NYC <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/> Read 'Em & Speak <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/books/> ---------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Friday, 16 June 2000 16:14:30 UTC