Abstract
This paper reports on the results from a series of psychoacoustic experiments in the field of the auditory representation of texts via synthetic speech which comprise similar acoustic patterns so called “paronyms”. The errors which occur when listening to paronyms are classified as errors of phonological type. Thirty blind and thirty sighted students participated in psychoacoustic experiments. The results from the experiments depicted the types of the subjects’ errors and addressed comparisons between the performances of blind and sighted students on their auditory distinctions towards the chosen scripts (paronym words and sentences with paronyms). The discussion considered the practical implications of the findings such as issues regarding education as well as the development of suitable design of acoustic rendition of texts in favor of better perception and comprehension.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Raman, T.V.: An Audio View of (LA)TEX Documents, TUGboat. In: Proceedings of the 1992 Annual Meeting vol. 13(3), pp. 372–379 (1992)
Hakulinen, J., Turunen, M., Raiha, K.: The Use of Prosodic Features to Help Users Extract Information from Structured Elements in Spoken Dialogue Systems. In: Proceedings of ESCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Dialogue and Prosody, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, pp. 65–70 (1999)
Shriver, S., Black, A., Rosenfeld, R.: Audio Signals in Speech Interfaces. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, Beijing, China (2000)
Xydas, G., Argyropoulos, V., Karakosta, T., Kouroupetroglou, G.: An Experimental Approach in Recognizing Synthesized Auditory Components in a Non-Visual Interaction with Documents. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2005) Las Vegas, Nevada SA, vol. 3, pp. 411–420 (2005)
Venkatagiri, S.H.: Segmental Intelligibility of Three Text-to-Speech Synthesis Methods in Reverberant Environments. Augmentative and Alternative Communication 20(3), 150–163 (2004)
Logan, J.S., Greene, B.G., Pisoni, D.B.: Segmental intelligibility of synthetic speech produced by rule, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 566–581 (1989)
Cutler, A., Weber, A., Smits, R., Cooper, N.: Patterns of English phoneme confusions by native and non-native listeners, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116(6), 3668–3678 (2004)
Xydas, G., Kouroupetroglou, G.: The DEMOSTHeNES Speech Composer. In: Proceedings of the 4th ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Speech Synthesis, Perthshire, Scotland, pp. 167–172 (2001)
Xydas, G., Kouroupetroglou, G.: Text-to-Speech Scripting Interface for Appropriate Vocalisation of e-Texts. In: Proceedings of EUROSPEECH, Aalborg, Denmark pp. 2247–2250 (2001)
Xydas, G.: Machine Learning Models and Selection Methods for the Auditory Representation of Documents via Synthetic Speech with Enriched Prosody, PhD dissertation, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (2006)
Xydas, G., Spiliotopoulos, D., Kouroupetroglou, G.: Modeling Prosodic Structures in Linguistically Enriched Environments. In: Sojka, P., Kopeček, I., Pala, K. (eds.) TSD 2004. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3206, pp. 521–528. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)
Dutoit, T.: An Introduction to Text-to-Speech Synthesis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA (1997)
Tindal, G.A., Marston, D.B.: Classroom-based Assessment: Evaluating Instructional Outcomes. Merrill, Columbus, OH (1990)
Argyropoulos, S.V., Martos, C.A.: Braille Literacy Skills: An Analysis of the Concept of Spelling. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 100(11), 676–686 (2006)
Koenig, A.J., Holbrook, M.C.: Literacy Skills, In: Koening, A. J. Holbrook, M. C. (eds) Foundations of Education. vol. II, AFB Press, pp. 264–312 (2000)
Kapperman, G., Sticken, J.: Assistive Technology. In: Koening, A. J., Holbrook, M. C. (eds.) Foundations of Education. vol. II AFB Press, pp. 500–516 (2000)
McCall, S.: Accessing the curriculum. In: Arter, C., Mason, L. H., McCall, S., Stone, S. (eds.) Children with visual impairment in mainstream settings. London: David Fulton, pp. 29–40 (1999)
Miller, B.: Spelling Bees and Grammar Gorillas. The Braille Monitor (November 1999) vol. 42(9) (Accessed August 8, 2004), Available online at http://www.nfb.org/slate/slss9904.htm
Argyropoulos, V., Martos, A., Leotskakos, B.: Blind students and spelling: An investigation into braille literacy skills. In: Proceedings of the ICEVI European Conference 2005: Education – aiming for Excellence, Chemnitz, pp. 180–185 (2005)
Wadsworth, B.J.: Piaget’s theory of cognitive and affective development, 4th edn. Longman, New York (1989)
Amato, S.: Standards for competence in Braille literacy skills in teacher preparation programs. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness 96(3), 143–154 (2002)
Arter, C., Layton, L.: Reading Preferences of Pupils with Visual Impairment. The. British journal of Visual Impairment 18(1), 41–44 (2000)
Fellenius, K.: Computer-based instruction for young braille readers in mainstream education-An evaluation study. Visual Impairment Research 1, 147–164 (1999)
Ladd, D.R.: Intonational phrasing: The case for recursive prosodic structure. Phonology 3, 311–340 (1986)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Argyropoulos, V., Papadopoulos, K., Kouroupetroglou, G., Xydas, G., Katsoulis, P. (2007). Discrimination and Perception of the Acoustic Rendition of Texts by Blind People. In: Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Services. UAHCI 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4556. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73283-9_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73283-9_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-73282-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-73283-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)