DAISY

Available July 2008

A DAISY book is a set of digital files that includes:

• One or more digital audio files containing a part or all of the source text;
• A marked-up file containing some or all of the text (strictly speaking, this marked-up text file is optional);
• A synchronization file to relate markings in the text file with time points in the audio file; and
• A navigation control file which enables the user to move smoothly between files while synchronization between text and audio is maintained.

ReadHowYouWant uses proprietary technology to convert print titles to DAISY books, using computer synthesized voices (Text to Speech). We use industry leading Nuance RealSpeak Solo engine for speech synthesis.

Pronunciation

The content of the book is checked for the presence of the following:

• Homographs
• Non-Phonetic words

These words are then processed and their pronunciation is verified by looking at their context to ensure correct pronunciation.

Tables

The tables in the text are described in a linear manner by announcing the cell position and then the data contained in the cell. For example, we would say “row 1, column 1, cell data.” A descriptive summary of the table can also be added.

Index

If the original print book had an index, our sophisticated technology enables us to reproduce the index in a DAISY audio book without the help of any external plug-in. The indexing has been implemented within the specifications of DAISY 2.02 and DAISY NISO/2005, so all the existing players which support the above DAISY standards will support our index. The index is added at the end of the text of the book and is displayed in the text window/view of the DAISY readers so that people can hear the whole index, but the index is not navigable from this window.

Navigation is provided – the navigational component of the DAISY book is built with the index embedded into it. The index entries can be clicked to navigate to the:

• Top of the page where the word/index entry is present, or
• Start of the paragraph containing the index entry.

User Selections

Users will be able to select:

• Whether the DAISY NIMAS 2005 book comes as text only or with a synthesized voice
• Accent—U.S. or UK
• Gender—male or female voice
• Pitch and speed of voice—further user selection options will be added over time
• Index navigation