Future Directions in Text-to-Speech Technology

Text-to-speech (TTS) technology involves two components: the technology that applies speech to the text and the digital files that technology uses. In summary, future directions will involve:

• better (or more realistic) synthesized voice engines
• synchronizing digitized human voice to text and the software that can play these files
• protection of the rights of publishers and authors when books are distributed digitally
• creating standards for electronic book files that benefit content publishers, publishers of TTS software, manufacturers of digital book display devices, and consumers who read electronic books
• harnessing the flexibility of digital books to enhance learning
  
  The following organizations are involved with the future of digital text and text-to-speech technology. To learn more visit their Web sites.
  
  CAST
  http://www.cast.org/
  Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities through the development of and innovative uses of technology. We pursue this mission through research, product development, and work in schools and educational settings that further Universal Design for Learning.
  
  Daisy Consortium
  http://www.daisy.org/
  The DAISY Consortium is establishing the International Standard for the production, exchange, and use of the next generation of "Digital Talking Books". The DAISY Consortium is made up of organizations world-wide serving persons who are blind or print disabled.
  
  NISO Digital Talking Book Committee
  http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/z39-86-2002.html
  Currently, talking books for the visually impaired are distributed on audio cassettes. The next-generation technology for this application will be digitally-based, bringing many improvements in sound quality, document navigation, and searching. The NISO Digital Talking Book (DTB) Standard will ensure compatibility among the many systems expected to be developed. The core of the standard will be the file specification, describing how the various functions of a DTB will be coded. Other portions of the standard will address the features desired in a DTB and describe the critical elements of the user interface of a DTB player.
  
  Open eBook Forum
  http://www.openebook.org/
  The purpose of the Open eBook Forum (OEBF) is to create and maintain standards and promote the successful adoption of electronic books. The Open eBook Forum (OEBF) is an association of hardware and software companies, publishers, authors and users of electronic books and related organizations whose goals are to establish common specifications for electronic book systems, applications and products that will benefit creators of content, makers of reading systems and, most importantly, consumers, helping to catalyze the adoption of electronic books; to encourage the broad acceptance of these specifications on a worldwide basis among members of the Forum, related industries and the public; and to increase awareness and acceptance of the emerging electronic publishing industry.
  
  World Wide Web Consortium
  http://www.w3.org
  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding.
  
  
  

  2004 Update from the Massachusetts Department of Education:
  
  The National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum
  recently convened an expert panel that established the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). This voluntary standard, released in 2004, will guide the production and distribution of digital instructional materials such as textbooks sot they can be more easily converted to accessible formats, including text-to-speech.