When we were featured on ABC Australia's "Australian Story" a couple of years ago, they shared a short piece of our co-founder @jcsteh reading at 900 words per minute: youtube.com/shorts/DFkmRewclaE
Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) co-creator Jamie Teh demonstrates how the free software can be used to interpret information into synthetic speech for the v...
@NVAccess @jcsteh arr, I notice that rate boosting is in effect there, I can hear that distinctive clipping of audio, is that now fixed? compared to non rate boosted speed at 100 which I have it on at the moment, if the clipped sounding aspect could be fixed then I would gradually start speeding up my espeak-ng speaking rate.
@mhussain @NVAccess I agree it sounds different, but it doesn't feel like anything is clipped to me. Regardless, I don't think it can be fixed, at least not easily. Going above a certain speed is always going to sound unnatural in some way or another.
@mhussain @NVAccess I have it set to rate boost with anywhere from 30 to 70 depending on what I'm doing. To be clear, I'm not saying I can't hear the difference when it shifts into the boost algorithm; I absolutely can. It just doesn't sound like anything is clipped to me; it is entirely intelligible to me, but like it shifts into a different gear. Like any fast speech, it takes practice.
@mhussain @NVAccess eSpeak can naturally speak up to about 450wpm, but the code has specific tuning for various rate levels up to that point. For any speed beyond 450 or so, it uses a single algorithm called Sonic. I guess Eloquence might have specific tuning even up to higher speeds rather than using a single algorithm beyond a certain point, so the "gear shifts" are more gradual. But honestly, I find Eloquence really hard to understand these days despite having used it for a long time before I started working on NVDA nearly 20 years ago, so I do think a lot of it is just what your brain gets trained to handle.
@jcsteh @NVAccess so how would you say the best way to ajust is? gradually speed up nvda with rate boosting enabled? current setting is rate boost disabled rate at 100 start over from rate 19 with rate boosting enabled and speed up gradually from there?
@mhussain @NVAccess That seems like a reasonable approach to me. But also, I'm not trying to convince you to switch: use what works for you. I'm just noting that I personally find it intelligible - that is, it is not objectively unintelligible to everyone - but that doesn't mean it's going to work for everyone.
@jcsteh @NVAccess thanks, it's just if that or what I identify as voice clipping was not present i would speed things up even more. thanks for your help on this. oh, on a aside, when ever I have non rate boosted speed at 30 or 32 I can't bare to listen to that speed any more, my head starts herting, is that me or because i've gotten used to speed 100 speeds of speech?
@mhussain @NVAccess Haha, I know what you mean. Listening to really slow speech synthesis breaks my brain. Getting a new device and setting it up before you get to the point where you can adjust the speech rate is just so, so painful.
@jcsteh @NVAccess last toot to you all since i'm sure that i'm annoying by now, wonder what would be displayed to the brane scanner devices re our branes? what does increesed speeds do to cirten aspects of our branes? are there any key differances displayed compared to say someone who uses a normal rate of tts voice and another scanne with someone who does not use tts at all? an interesting question a? sorry if these toots were boring.
@mhussain @NVAccess Yeah, that would be fascinating to know. I have this (completely unproven) feeling that screen reader speech almost uses a different part of my brain somehow to normal speech. I just seem to process it very differently. Even screen reader meta messages like "link", "button", "spelling error", etc. are processed very differently; it's almost as if they're not words any more, to the point where hearing "spelling error" in a sentence really messes with me.
@jcsteh @mhussain @NVAccess Absolutely agree with this. When I start teaching a new student and they have everything set to defaults I try to subtly teach them the art of speeding it up by a few points each week, it often works.
@jcsteh @mhussain @NVAccess I have to record videos for sighted people at work, and the switching into that profile is *always* jarring. Last time I set up an iPhone from new I could go into VoiceOver settings straight after choosing a language, which ... sped things up, in all senses.
@jcsteh @NVAccess and the sappy 5 tts built in voices microsoft zera desktop don't judge me my hardware is really old so using windows 8.1. yes, I know that microsoft don't support this but it's the most responsive.
@mhussain @NVAccess That can't speak anywhere near as fast as eSpeak + rate boost though. Unless you mean the rate boost setting NVDA recently added for SAPI5, but that uses exactly the same Sonic algorithm that eSpeak rate boost uses.
@jcsteh @NVAccess hi, it could be to do with the fact that the microsoft zera voice because it is at a lower khz it's not that notisible? and yes the rate boosting when in sappy mode yes.
@mhussain @NVAccess eSpeak has pretty intense unvoiced consonants (s sounds, etc.) by default. Rate boost does seem to change and soften those somehow. I don't know enough about the mathematics of the algorithm to explain why; complex math is not my thing. :)
NV Access
in reply to Licho • • •Jamie is blind and can read 900 a minute. This is how he does it | Australian Story
YouTubeMajid Hussain
in reply to NV Access • • •arr,
I notice that rate boosting is in effect there,
I can hear that distinctive clipping of audio, is that now fixed?
compared to non rate boosted speed at 100 which I have it on at the moment,
if the clipped sounding aspect could be fixed then I would gradually start speeding up my espeak-ng speaking rate.
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •is that with the rate boost enabled and your speech rate set at 19?
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •cheers,
this only seembs tto happen with espeak-ng
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •so how would you say the best way to ajust is?
gradually speed up nvda with rate boosting enabled?
current setting is rate boost disabled rate at 100
start over from rate 19 with rate boosting enabled and speed up gradually from there?
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •thanks,
it's just if that or what I identify as voice clipping was not present i would speed things up even more. thanks for your help on this.
oh,
on a aside,
when ever I have non rate boosted speed at 30 or 32 I can't bare to listen to that speed any more, my head starts herting, is that me or because i've gotten used to speed 100 speeds of speech?
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •last toot to you all since i'm sure that i'm annoying by now,
wonder what would be displayed to the brane scanner devices re our branes?
what does increesed speeds do to cirten aspects of our branes?
are there any key differances displayed compared to say someone who uses a normal rate of tts voice and another scanne with someone who does not use tts at all?
an interesting question a?
sorry if these toots were boring.
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •brain traineing a?
Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •overclocking for the brane, what a thought.
Andre Louis
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •Sean Randall
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •Last time I set up an iPhone from new I could go into VoiceOver settings straight after choosing a language, which ... sped things up, in all senses.
Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •microsoft zera desktop
don't judge me my hardware is really old so using windows 8.1.
yes, I know that microsoft don't support this but it's the most responsive.
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •hi,
it could be to do with the fact that the microsoft zera voice because it is at a lower khz it's not that notisible?
and yes the rate boosting when in sappy mode yes.
Jamie Teh
in reply to Majid Hussain • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to Jamie Teh • • •Majid Hussain
in reply to NV Access • • •i've just checked, it starts kicking in at rate 19 with rate boosting enabled
sounds not very nice.