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Re: BrowseAloud

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From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
Date: Mar 24, 2011 12:30PM

BrowseAloud and ReadSpeaker are both aimed at audiences other than those with vision loss, such as persons with dyslexia and reading disabilities, second language learners, etc. They're also useful for people who may not be able to afford screen readers (both were developed before NVDA).

* BrowseAloud http://www.browsealoud.com/. Contact Paul Quinn @ <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
* ReadSpeaker http://www.readspeaker.com/. Contact Stefanie Cuschnir @ <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >

Neither are meant to substitute for screen readers and both have their pros and cons, no doubt. I believe that both can now handle PDF files as well as html, but will only read PDF files that came from BrowseAloud or ReadSpeaker-enabled sites.

I haven't tested it out too much yet but the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke page is in the process of implementing ReadSpeaker. One nice feature is that pronunciation can be customized, which is pretty critical in technical information. Not sure if you'll be able to access the following link, if it's an internal staging site: http://draftdoc.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/agnosia/agnosia.htm. If you'd like to contact someone at the Library of Congress about its use of BrowseAloud, let me know and I'll put you in touch.

Is it safe to say that there's no one solution or approach to accessibility? this model, site-enabled speech applications, allows organizations to proactively provide one more tool to make their sites accessible. No one would suggest, that it excuses the business or organization from ensuring that their site is also compatible with a user's assistive technology.


Gary M. Morin, Program Analyst
NIH Office of the Chief Information Officer
10401 Fernwood Rd, Room 3G-17
Bethesda, MD 20892, Mail Stop: 4833

(301) 402-3924 Voice, 451-9326 TTY/NTS
Videophone (240) 380-3063; (301) 402-4464 Fax

WHAT IF THE FIRST QUESTION WE ASKED WAS, "WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT THIS SITUATION THAT IT JUSTIFIES EXCLUSION? INSTEAD OF, "HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE?"