Prologix Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
THIS MONTH’S FOCUS: ‘SCREEN READING SOFTWARE’ For a blind human, disregard and segregation can only crumble the strength further						Newsletter December, 2004
	Welcome to the December Issue of the Prologix Newsletter Blindness is posing a threat to the way of life of people not only in India but also worldwide. There are an estimated 180 million visually-impaired people in the world while the number in India stands at around 700,000. While there are many amongst us who share a lot of concern for the visually impaired, very few of us realise that many visually challenged persons are truly gifted individuals who possess senses and IQs which most of us can only aspire for. Most people who are visually impaired possess a very keen sense of touch and hearing, which makes them invaluable assets in operating fine controls, working in voice based processes in BPO operations, or even doing complex operations which require monitoring and resultant operations of audio signals (I can for instance think of several jobs in the music industry in which a music literate visually impaired person could be a huge asset). Unfortunately, our mindsets refuse to accept these possibilities – and as a result, we are unable to pick up the latent talent available that could allow us to tap this huge potential. More than that, one also sees a lack of adequately built training aids and accessibility tools that can help visually challenged people to get trained effectively. Consequently a large segment of our population that could be a tremendous national asset sadly remains untouched by the great information revolution. With most work having moved to computers and computing devices (such as PDAs), technology does offer a way of getting around the problems associated with bulky Braille typewriters, printers and creation of special Braille documents. While a blind or visually challenged person may not be able to read or write effectively, their keen sense of hearing is the alternative that today’s technology can exploit. Speech Technology (that can convert ordinary text into speech) is a mature and ready solution which can enable development of interfaces on the computer to allow everyday documents, information and content to be made accessible to the blind. These solutions called Screen Reading software, can today be easily enabled on a range of devices – ranging from Personal Computers, Information kiosks, ATMs, Handhelds and Mobile phone, etc. A Screen reading software is a small piece of code that works with a text to speech synthesiser to read aloud everything on a computer screen – including icons, menus, text, punctuation, and control buttons. Older versions of screen readers were designed to simply read text on the screen, since they had been developed for text-based operating systems such as DOS or Unix. These older versions sometimes have difficulties with GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) such as Windows, Mac, or graphical web pages. Newer versions have the capability to read out everything on the screen - such as which dialogue boxes are opening, the options in a menu, and even the tabbed application names in the taskbar, so that they can be used easily within the GUI.
	As part of this series, we have always attempted to introduce our readers to the technology that we must watch out for – that has direct relevance to the work we do and the potential to impact it strongly in the near future. In this issue, we focus on screen reading software and also attempt to discuss how speech technology can play a significant role for the visually impaired worldwide. Happy Reading ~Editor In this month issue: Internet access via a telephone Service for Visually Impaired Individuals…more Virtual Vision, a new software to be released on the President of India’s website…more Prologix created an innovative tool for a  patient at South Birmingham PCT, UK…more			The world's first Hindi screen reader – SAFA (Screen Access For All) - has been developed through a collaboration between the National Association for the blind (NAB) and Prologix Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Lucknow. While Prologix’s TTS – Vaachak synthesises the text into speech, SAFA provides the interface between the user and the TTS that can easily enable readout of all text on the screen. Current Screen Readers were available only for English and foreign languages, but with SAFA, it is now possible for people to hear out content in Hindi, and thus enter the digital world!
	Internet access via a telephone Service for Visually Impaired Individuals in the UK LONDON, ENGLAND A UK Based Internet telephony company - PhoneAnything has launched a Web-over-phone service for the visually impaired or anyone wishing to gain Internet access via a telephone. The service allows the UK's blind and partially sighted individuals to listen to complete Web pages, rather than voice-specific content, using a landline or mobile phone. The Web-over-phone service offers voice access to the Internet for the cost of a local call. This service has been enabled using Text to Speech synthesis software that can convert written text into audible speech, and thus make it accessible for those who have a reading disability. PhoneAnything's technology will also benefit organizations wishing to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. The Act requires all service providers to make reasonable adjustments to the way they deliver services to ensure disabled people can use them. Organizations can license the technology and provide their Web site to visually impaired customers through specific phone numbers. With the help of this innovative technology visually impaired users can now browse the Web and even carry out transactions using just their phone, without the need for a costly computer or other technology. The PhoneAnything service can be accessed by dialling a local rate number in the UK and there are no subscription charges to pay to use the service.
Indian Language TTS www.vaachak.com “Vaachak is India’s first ever high quality Indian language text to speech software. It enables clear read out of text in Indian languages and English in an Indian accent. We have identified the market for visual accessibility tools since the beginning of our efforts in growing this technology and believe that Vaachak can play a significant role in the development of screen reading software in India. The availability of Vaachak in multiple variants for different environments (network – client server, desktop and handheld) along with the support available for multiple font formats (including Unicode and utf-8) is expected to be a significant value-add for developers.” – Vibhu Agarwal, Founder & President, Prologix Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.			Virtual Vision, A new software to be released on the President of India’s website DELHI, INDIA On the occasion of World Disability Day, December 3, the President of India – Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that his office was working on developing speech applet software for the visually challenged that would provide a speech interface on the Internet. The software, Virtual Vision, to be released on January 26, 2005, will be available on the President’s own website. It will be made available to all, through the President’s website, to download so that it can be configured at their Web servers to provide a speech interface for visually challenged persons. The system should prove useful to institutions imparting training to the visually handicapped. “As a next step, we are working with research and development institutions to integrate the speech interface with an open service operating system in English and other Indian languages. To make it cost-effective, we are working towards providing a speech interface through the indigenously-developed Simputer,” Mr. Kalam Said.
	Prologix created an innovative tool for a patient at South Birmingham PCT, UK BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND Access to Communication Technology (ACT) is a service in the UK which aims to aid in rehabilitation of patients through innovative uses of technology. At the West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre of the South Birmingham PCT, researchers and physicians faced a peculiar problem - one of their patients of Indian origin had lost her voice recently and wished to communicate in Hindi with her family back in India. Conventional synthesis technologies were available only in English, and traditional voice implants would have been extremely expensive. This is the process where our potential customers should take a ride for the development issue of the current marketing strategies and plans. There is an immense potential market is waiting to launch the speech technology for the visually impaired or low vision people world wide. This is the purpose because of that everyone one related to the speech technology is looking for chance in new ideas and products to make their speech technology popular. On knowing about this issue, Prologix offered a desktop variant of its high performance Hindi TTS - Vaachak to help get around this problem. The solution was designed to be installed on a desktop PC with a simple to use Graphical User Interface, in which the patient could easily type using Romanised Hindi (Transliteration), and on clicking a button hear the typed Hindi text spoken out using the computer's speakers. When used in conjunction with the speakerphone on a telephone handset, this proved to be an extremely effective and cost efficient communication solution.
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