[Nfb-science] Fw: CWU Student Creates Revolutionary Text-to-Speech Reader

[Everett Gavel]

Please forgive me if this has been shared and 
discussed here already. I haven't been keeping up 
with the list too well. But I thought this worth 
sharing, due mainly to this statement:

"the program is able to read documents that 
contain symbols from geometry
and trigonometry, linear algebra, calculus, math, 
logic, or statistics."


Strive On!
Everett


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Goldfield" 
<happycatholic1211 at AOL.COM>
To: <VICUG-L at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG>
Subject: CWU Student Creates Revolutionary 
Text-to-Speech Reader

I am not able to test this software as I currently 
have no access to any
64-bit machines and this program does not 
currently support 32-bit
systems. I just wanted to pass this along in case 
others were
interested. The URL for more information is
http://www.cwu.edu/central-access/cwu-student-creates-revolutionary-text-speech-reader


CWU Student Creates Revolutionary Text-to-Speech 
Reader
Spencer Graffe, a senior in Central Washington 
University’s Computer
Science Program, has helped develop Central Access 
Reader (CAR), a free
computerized text-to-speech reader program that 
has attracted attention
of institutions across the nation.
Marshall Sunnes, Central Access program 
coordinator and Wendy Holden,
Disability and Accessibility Consultant, 
collaborated to determine what
the program should be, how it should look, and 
what features were most
important to include. Graffe had the skills to 
make it happen.
The program, developed as a tool to assist 
students with print-related
disabilities—those with visual impairments, 
dyslexia, attention-deficit
disorder, or other conditions—reads documents that 
other text-readers
can’t handle, especially those with equations or 
symbols.
The program started as a computer science class 
capstone project.
Central Access, CWU’s department that makes 
educational materials
accessible to people with disabilities, hired 
Graffe to continue to work
on the program after the project ended. The 
Central Access Reader has
attracted the attention of schools across the 
country. In recent weeks,
Sunnes has received inquiries about the program 
from numerous
institutions, including MIT and Harvard.

In addition to an intuitive user interface and 
simple customizations,
the program is able to read documents that contain 
symbols from geometry
and trigonometry, linear algebra, calculus, math, 
logic, or statistics.
Sophomore Justin Wilson, another computer science 
major, refined its
math-reading abilities. The powerful, yet simple, 
interface allows the
user to customize how the text looks and sounds.

The program is being installed on both Macs and 
PCs at CWU and is
currently being used by both students and faculty. 
The program can be
downloaded free at 
http://www.cwu.edu/central-access/reader.
Central Access serves not only the university 
community, but also
provides materials to institutions and schools 
across the country.
Central Access leads the industry in offering 
accessible products,
including electronic text, Braille, and tactile 
graphics.

Media Contact: Valerie Chapman-Stockwell, Public 
Affairs, 509-963-1518,
valeriec at cwu.edu


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