[Nfbsf] Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description

[David Andrews]

We have been asked to circulate the following:

Dave


February 19, 2010

Recruiting Now for a Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description

IBM Research-Japan and WGBH's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National 
Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) are conducting a joint study via 
an online survey
on the applicability of speech synthesis for audio description of 
Web-based video.

Adults (18+ years of age) who are blind or have low vision will be 
asked to share their opinions about a few short video clips which 
include synthesized
description.

NCAM is seeking participants with a range of familiarity with 
synthesized speech (from little or none to regular users) and as well 
as familiarity with
audio description (from little or none to regular users).

Interested in sharing your opinion? Please send an email to
access at wgbh.org
with "participate" in the subject line. Once the online survey is 
posted on or about March 1, you will be sent an email with the 
survey's Web site address
and asked to complete the survey by Friday, March 12. The survey, 
which will be accessible via screen-reading software, should take no 
longer than one
half hour.

NCAM will summarize and share the results of the survey once user 
opinions are analyzed.

NOTE: This is an early investigation into a subject many people who 
are blind or have low-vision have asked about for many years. Though 
we are conducting
this study, WGBH does not intend to substitute synthesized speech for 
human voices on the programs and movies we currently describe. 
Following this narrow
and limited initial study, further research will be required to 
expand the scope of investigation into larger populations, other 
types of media and other
parameters.

Thank you!

Mary

-- 
Mary Watkins
Director of Communications
   and Outreach
Media Access Group at WGBH
One Guest Street
Boston, MA  02135
617 300-3700
mary_watkins at wgbh.org
access.wgbh.org

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