![]() ![]() The update is free and results in making an already remarkable achievement that much better. It now seems quite a bit more responsive. These changes make a marked difference in the feel and flow of using ProloQuo2Go. and many other under-the-hood bug fixes.Much quicker uploading of the saved vocabulary from the syncing computer to the app via Wi-Fi.The ability to backup the user customized vocabulary through iTunes File Sharing on the syncing computer (as long as the mobile device is using iOS 3.2 or better). ![]() Optimization of over 7,000 graphic symbols to take advantage of the Retina display of the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch.The update includes many new enhancements and features, including: This attention has paid off with the first major revision to Proloquo2Go taking it to version 1.4, which was released earlier this month. Its developer, AssistiveWare, was one of the first to release apps for the assistive technology community, and they do a great job of listening to their customers and providing support. This is a universal app, and as such, it takes full advantage of the iPad screen. It provides iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad owners who do not have the ability to speak well enough to be understood (and that number is estimated to be 2.5 million Americans alone) a fully functional and quite customizable solution that rivals stand-alone devices that can cost up to $8,000. Enrique Mendez, 9, and his older brother, Cristian, 11, sorted through a plastic bin of toys in their New Jersey home.Proloquo2Go (US$189.99) is the most fully featured augmentative and alternative communication device (AAC) we've yet covered. “I want to play with the wrestling guys,” said Enrique in a voice not quite his own, but pretty close.Įnrique has Down syndrome and speech apraxia, which means that he cannot speak, aside from a few grunts and “Ma” in the word “Mama.” He was able to speak to his brother, though, with an iPad loaded with the latest version of a widely used text-to-speech application, Proloquo2Go. “The voice now matches the boy,” said John Mendez, Enrique’s father. Until recently, devices that help children like Enrique speak used modified adult voices. The effect can be startling to those listening because it doesn’t sound like a child’s voice. In the address bar, type the address starting with that you see in Proloquo2Go. Most existing children’s voices sound “like adults on helium,” said David Niemeijer, chief executive and lead developer at AssistiveWare, which developed the software Enrique tested.ĪssistiveWare and its partner, Acapela Group, developed the next version, Proloquo2Go 2.1, which features two children’s voices - known as Josh and Ella - actually recorded by children. On your computer, open the Safari or Firefox browser. The $190 application can be bought on iTunes Wednesday, but people who already own the app can add the latest voices at no charge. Sound engineering can manipulate adult voices, adding filters that adjust for the higher pitch of a child’s voice, for example. But without a baseline recording, the voices to date have lacked the natural sound of a child’s voice. With little competitive pressure to replicate children’s voices, most companies decided children could get by with the altered adult voices. The release of Proloquo2Go’s boy and girl voices - the company also has two other children’s voices with a British accent for that market - is an indicator of new progress in the decades-old text-to-speech industry. ![]() The progress is, in part, a side effect of the adoption of automated voices in everything from credit card company service lines to the grocery store checkout kiosk. But faster computer processors with more memory have enabled sound engineers to make artificial voices sound more human. Many of the larger voice companies like Nuance, in Massachusetts, and Ivona, in Poland, now offer voices in multiple languages and accents. When Shanay Finney, 30, learned that her 10-year-old autistic son, Dahmier, might be able to have an age-appropriate voice, she reacted with mixed emotions. On one hand, the sound of his voice would be more normal, but on the other hand, all the other little boys using Proloquo2Go would have the same voice. The software cost AssistiveWare about $100,000 to develop. During the recording sessions for Proloquo2Go 2.1, audio engineers collected several thousand phrases and hundreds of words. From this bank of words, the application can synthesize any word in the English language. For example the word “impressive” is stitched together from the words impossible, president and detective. Most text-to-speech devices do give users the ability to say almost anything, and many allow users to choose whether they want to sound happy, angry or sad. The challenge facing the industry, whose biennial conference starts Saturday in Pittsburgh, is how to develop text-to-speech technologies that can predict the emotion, or tone, a person might want to use. ![]()
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