IBM products for persons with disabilities

Author

Adams, Frank R. ; Crepy, Hubert ; Jameson, David ; Thatcher, James

Author_Institution

IBM Corp., Boca Raton, FL, USA

fYear

1989

fDate

27-30 Nov 1989

Firstpage

980

Abstract

A description is given of the IBM Screen Reader, a PC DOS access system for the blind. It consists of a keypad, terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) software, and a profile application language (PAL) compiler for adaptation to applications. It speaks to a blind user through a text-to-speech synthesizer, focused by the keypad keys. The IBM Speech Viewer, a speech training workstation for the hearing- or speech-impaired, is described. The speech signal is digitized and analyzed by a special IBM Personal System/2 adapter that extracts voice features such as pitch, intensity, and spectrum. These drive the PS/2 display to provide real-time visual feedback on speech utterances. Both products have been the object of extensive pilot testing

Keywords

IBM computers; handicapped aids; interactive terminals; special purpose computers; speech analysis and processing; speech synthesis; voice equipment; workstations; IBM Personal System/2 adapter; IBM Screen Reader; IBM Speech Viewer; IBM products; PAL compiler; PC DOS access system; PS/2 display; TSR software; blind user; disable persons; hearing impaired; keypad; profile application language; real-time visual feedback; speech training workstation; speech-impaired; text-to-speech synthesizer; Application software; Displays; Drives; Feature extraction; Feedback; Signal analysis; Speech analysis; Speech synthesis; Synthesizers; Workstations;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Global Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition 'Communications Technology for the 1990s and Beyond' (GLOBECOM), 1989. IEEE

Conference_Location

Dallas, TX

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GLOCOM.1989.64106

Filename

64106