Using the Power of Speech with Maths Dr

Using the Power of Speech with Maths Dr Abi James Assistive Technology Consultant iansyst

Contents n n n Uses for speech Speech recognition & text to speech basics Maths. Talk Maths & OCR PDF Accessibility Editor Math. ML

Uses For Speech with a computer n Speech recognition (speech input) is an alternative to keyboard input. Also helps with n n n Poor spelling Poor or slow handwriting Speech output read text from the screen. Helps with n n Reading Proof reading Navigating around computer applications Accessing computer based tools (e. g. spell checker suggestions)

Speech Recognition: But… But. . . n Time commitment in enrolment /training n Need n n understanding of word processing & punctuation. ability to multi-task and dictate. Noise issue Requires high-powered computer

Speech Recognition in general n n n Dragon Naturally. Speaking Preferred v 9 usual package for students. Students training on the software and how to dictate as well as voice recognition “training” Dragon does not recognise specialist vocabulary unless “trained” to do so. n Medical of Dragon Pro available

Maths. Talk, Scientific Notebook & Dragon n n Scientific Notebooks is a scientific word processor + mathematical computations Maths. Talk enabled Dragon to dictate into Scientific Notebook User “trains” Dragon to recognise mathematical commands in SN Need to learn mathematical terms to dictate them

Maths & OCR n OCR software can not recognize math equations (Vi. Oi - b(6 i)) /foft, <p) = exp [Igg m)) + c{Vi, 4>)) n Latest version of Abbyy Fine. Reader n n Recognise simple chemical formulae Incorporates custom word dictionary & medical dictionary

PDF Files: interactive, colorful, pleasing to the eye n n PDF files often used for mathematical papers, worksheets & handouts Easy to convert from La. Te. X to PDF Text in PDF files can usually be read aloud (PDFAloud included with Read & Write Gold) But equations and symbols have to added into each PDF file manually through the accessibility editor

PDF Accessibility Tags Example Pronunciations: *=times 40. *=times 600 *=approximately *=A. , *=converts to *=sight-o-plasm *=B. *=might-o-kondria *=C O 2 *=dioxide *=Cyitoplasmic Equations: *=1, 1, C 6 H 12 O 6 liquid *=2, 1, plus 6 O 2 gas *=3, 1, converts to *=4, 1, 6 C O 2 gas *=5, 1, plus 6 H 2 O liquid *=6, 1, plus energy Courtesy of EA Draffan, www. emptech. info

Math. ML n Mark-up language for equations on the web n n Displays correctly with zoom in feature Can be read aloud by text-to-speech engines IE plug-in: www. dessci. com/mathplayer Mozilla Fire. Fox native support

Creating Math. ML n Most scientific publishing programs support Math. ML through save as/export to html including n n Scientific Notebook Math. Type (advanced version of Equation Editor) Plug-ins can support Te. X & Word to Math. ML Word 2007 will use Math. ML for equations n Possibility that Read & Write will read aloud equations in Word

Contact details: Abi James Email: abi@dyslexic. com Iansyst Fen House Fen Road Cambridge CB 4 1 UN Tel: 01223 420101 Web: www. dyslexic. com www. iansyst. co. uk www. itspc. co. uk