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
Freedom Scientific is a company that makes accessibility products for computer users with low vision and blindness. The software they create enables screen magnification, screen reading, and use of refreshable braille displays with modern compute ...
*
WebAnywhere from University of Washington
A more recent trend has seen the self-voicing capabilities added to mainstream web browsers with free add-ons. In 2004,
Opera Software
Opera is a Norwegian multinational technology company and subsidiary of Kunlun that specializes in web browser development, fintech, as well as services such as Opera News and YoYo Games. The company's total user base, including users of its ...
created a self-voicing and speech-recognition extension for the Windows version of their web browser. 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.
A second important category are broader self-voicing applications that function as what T. V. Raman calls "complete audio desktops",
[T. V. Raman]
Emacspeak - The Complete Audio Desktop
Accessed 2007-02-03. including editing, browsing, and even gaming capabilities. These include Raman's own
Emacspeak enhancement for
Emacs and Karl Dahlke's Edbrowse.
References
External links
Edbrowse a command line editor, browser, and mail client
{{Speech synthesis
Assistive technology
Speech synthesis
Augmentative and alternative communication