NextUp's TextAloud a Vital Resource for Those with Aging Parents.Text to Speech Software Outperforms Expensive Alternatives for Visually Impaired CLEMMONS, N.C. & JOLIET, Ill. -- NextUp's TextAloud (www.TextAloud.com) software has made headlines recently for its usefulness to the blind. Now, users with aging or visually impaired relatives are discovering its value as well. Easy to install even for PC novices, TextAloud is the perfect tool for those helping older relatives deal with increasing loss of sight, enabling them to quickly, cheaply, and easily export e-mails, web pages, magazine articles, books and more, into spoken audio. TextAloud recently proved its usefulness to Warren Scharbert and his father, Don Scharbert of Joliet, Illinois The city of Joliet is located 40 miles southwest of Chicago. It holds the county seat of Will County and is also incorporated in Kendall County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 106,221. . Don is an active and knowledgeable computer user with macular degeneration macular degeneration, eye disorder causing loss of central vision. The affected area, the macula, lies at the back of the retina and is the part that produces the sharpest vision. in one eye and a detached retina detached retina Separation of most layers of the retina of the eye from the choroid, the pigmented middle layer of the eyeball. With age, small tears can develop in the retina, and the vitreous humour inside the eyeball leaks through, separating the retina from the choroid. in the other. Screen magnifiers
A screen magnifier is software that interfaces with a computer's graphical output to present enlarged screen content. and other tools had lately become an increasingly necessary, frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: part of life for Don, with reading that once took minutes, now taking hours by magnifier. His son sought a better solution - and found TextAloud, which integrated flawlessly flaw·less adj. Being entirely without flaw or imperfection. See Synonyms at perfect. flaw  less·ly adv. with his father's existing programs and quickly proved invaluable, bringing Don's web, e-mail, and documents into spoken audio. An award-winning program that converts text into spoken audio for PC or laptop, TextAloud can also save text to audio files for playback on iPods[R] and other devices. Priced at just $29.95, TextAloud is simple for anyone with a PC, and has become popular for the visually impaired as a source of Text to Speech. As a computer user who enjoys everything from e-mail to surfing the web, Don Scharbert was delighted to discover TextAloud. Like many with visual disabilities, Don had been disappointed by several other high-end programs, including one created to work as a magnifier and reader, which crashed his NetZero High-Speed and required constant troubleshooting. By contrast, TextAloud was able to integrate directly with Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. , and worked like a dream, instantly simplifying such tasks as surfing the 'Net, visiting his Church's website, and reading e-mail. "TextAloud has made the Internet enjoyable again," Don comments. "You just highlight the text and press Play - can't get simpler than that!" TextAloud also enables Don to read newsletters, online documents and even PDFs with ease, changing the voices depending on his mood. "I'm so happy to be able to get my daily e-mails from friends and family again," he adds. "Before you spend money on a Text Reader that promises the moon, try TextAloud, because it does what it says efficiently - and without glitches." A free download trial of TextAloud is available now at www.NextUp.com. NextUp.com offers TextAloud with optional premium voices, including numerous accents and languages, from AT&T Natural Voices (TM), NeoSpeech (R), Nuance nu·ance n. 1. A subtle or slight degree of difference, as in meaning, feeling, or tone; a gradation. 2. Expression or appreciation of subtle shades of meaning, feeling, or tone: (R), Acapela (R) and Cepstral (R) for the most natural-sounding computer speech anywhere. |
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