Home Catalogue Software

Enhances access to Mac OS X for blind and low vision users

View screenshots

VisioVoice is an application that enhances access to Mac OS X for blind and low vision users. It adds multilingual support to Apple’s excellent VoiceOver screen reader technology for a number of languages, as well as providing several other speech and vision related features to enhance access to Mac OS X. VisioVoice comes bundled with Infovox iVox, which provides the best voices ever on the Mac in a wide range of languages. VisioVoice is a Universal Binary and can be used on PowerPC and Intel Macs.

VisioVoice makes using the computer easier, more efficient and more fun, because of the high quality voices, its easy to use text reader, the powerful zoom functionality, the large cursors and its ability to convert text to audio files and iTunes tracks.

Features (See what’s new in version 1.1)

• Document Reader

  VisioVoice includes an advanced document and selection reader with play, pause, stop, rewind and fast forward functions. As it speaks, it can highlight the spoken words or sentences. Use it to listen to the selection in any application or to Text, Word, HTML, PDF and RTF documents.
  

• Create Audio and iTunes Files from Documents

  VisioVoice can convert Text, Word, HTML, PDF and RTF documents to audio files or iPod-ready iTunes tracks.
  

• Large Cursors

  VisioVoice includes large, customisable cross-hair and target cursors that make using the Mac much easier for vision impaired users.
  

• Screen Enlargement – Image Zoom

  VisioVoice includes an Image Enlarger that makes it easier to see what is on the screen. Unlike the built-in zoom functionality of Mac OS X, which zooms the entire screen, the Image Enlarger window just zooms the area around the cursor, so that you do not loose sight of the “big picture”.
  

• Screen Enlargement – Text Zoom

  VisioVoice includes an Text Enlarger that shows the title of buttons, menus, text entry areas, and all other “accessible” text in large type in a separate window. Because the text itself is enlarged, rather than the image of the text, the enlarged text is crisp and easy to read. This feature works for all applications that support Apple’s Accessibility API, including Safari, Mail, Finder, TextEdit, as well as many third-party applications. The text enlarger also show the text you are typing.
  

• Talking Interface

  VisioVoice’s Talking Interface speaks the contents of buttons, menu items, text entry areas, and all other “accessible” text, as the user navigates across the screen using the mouse or full keyboard access. This feature works for all applications that support Apple’s Accessibility API, including Safari, Mail, Finder, TextEdit, as well as many third-party applications.
  

• Typing Echo

  VisioVoice can speak as you type in virtually any application speaking each letter and/or word as it is typed. It can optionally also speak modifier keys (such as shift and control), punctuation and control and separator keys. Best results are obtained in applications that support Apple’s Accessibility API, but it also works in other applications.
  

• Translated Version of VoiceOver

  VisioVoice includes translations of VoiceOver and VoiceOver Utility for French, Japanese and Dutch so that now also non-English users can make use of the built-in Mac OS X screen reader on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. On Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard these are no longer needed.
  

• Infovox iVox Naturally-sounding, Multi-lingual Voices

  VisioVoice comes bundled with Infovox iVox, which provides the best voices ever on the Mac. Infovox iVox is available for multiple languages, including: American English, British English, American Spanish, Canadian French, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish.

  Click here to find out more about Infovox iVox.
  

• System-wide Keyboard Shortcuts

  VisioVoice provides many user-configurable system-wide hot keys for easy access to it’s core functionality by blind and vision impaired users.

What’s New in Version 1.1

• Now provides a typing echo as the user types into any application
• The text zoom window now updates as the user types
• Talking interface enhanced to work not only with the mouse but also with full keyboard access
• Talking interface and typing echo support was added for Pages and Keynote (iWork ’08 and later)
• Improved support for reading text in Safari with VisioVoice’s talking interface
• Improved PDF import with smart-stripping of end-of-line hyphens
• Japanese localisation was added as well as a Japanese translation for the Mac OS X 10.4 version of Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader for blind users. Use with DTalker 3.0 Japanese voices.
• Enhanced compatibility with VoiceOver: if the included Infovox iVox voices are used with VisioVoice, VoiceOver will no longer cut-off speech generation
• Now Leopard-ready
• Many other improvements and fixes

Click on a link below to hear an Infovox iVox voice sample.

Click here to download an Infovox iVox demo with sample voices in your own language.

Voice Licensing

Please observe the following restrictions on voice output and files: Acapela Group only permits personal use of the voices and generated audio files (publication of personal content on the web is ok). Commercial use is prohibited in all cases. The School and Classroom licences permit educational use in the school or classroom, but do not allow publication of audio files outside the classroom or school (not even for free).

“As a blind translator, I find VisioVoice to be an absolute boon. Using the hot keys I can have VisioVoice speak the original French text while I work on the translation in progress in TextEdit. VisioVoice is highly recommended for anyone with a sight problem and anyone else who likes to have a computer read to them. The included Infovox iVox voices are the best I’ve found for Mac and a real pleasure to listen to.” Anne Robertson, professional translator

System Requirements

• Apple Mac
  
  • Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4-10.5 or higher, Mac OS X 10.4.6 recommended
    
  • Minimum recommended hardware: G3/G4/G5 900 MHz with 512 MB or any Intel Mac

View/Download

• VisioVoice Manual (pdf 1.4 MB)
  
• VisioVoice 1.1 Trial version for Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, 7.8 MB

Prices

	Code	Media	Platform	$AUD Price	$AUD GST
	VisioVoice with Infovox iVox - UK English Version - Single User Licence	Includes UK English voices Peter, Rachel, Lucy, Graham, Roger and bonus US English voice Heather.
	AWAW-VV-CD1-EN-GB	CD-ROM	Mac OS X	$359.00	$0.00
	VisioVoice with Infovox iVox - US English Version - Single User Licence	Includes US English voices Heather, Laura, Ryan, Kenny, Nelly, Jane, and John.
	AWAW-VV-CD1-EN-US	CD-ROM	Mac OS X	$359.00	$0.00
	VisioVoice with Infovox iVox - any one European Language (non-Scandinavian) - Single User Licence	Please specify one language of your choice from the list of European voices (excludes Scandinavian voices) above.
	AWAW-VV-CD1-EU	CD-ROM	Mac OS X	$359.00	$0.00