Computer & Lernen Institute's Learning Program Selects Wizzard Software to Provide AT&T Natural Voices

PITTSBURGH — Computer & Lernen Institute selected AT&T Natural Voices Desktop Edition to add text-to-speech capabilities to GUT 1 Vocabulary Editor, a component of Computer & Lernen's GUT 1 software program, a tool that helps students sharpen spelling and vocabulary skills.  The Germany-based Computer & Lernen Institute provides programs and media materials to parents, educators, teachers and therapists, appropriate for the student's respective age, learning level and other pre-determined criterion.

"We have tested many other speech engines, and we found AT&T's Natural Voices to be the best available," said Martin Grund, designer and business manager of Computer & Lernen.

The GUT 1 program uses the 600 most frequently used words in the German vocabulary to teach spelling, grammar and vocabulary.  Students are able to learn by having a "dialogue" with the computer. 

With the GUT 1 vocabulary editor, the user can add any words of their choosing to the program, such as colloquialisms or words from foreign languages.  The words are put into sentences and then entered into a list, with the word to be learned placed in parentheses within the sentence.  Students then click the sentences they want to hear.  The sentences are then read aloud, with the word they are attempting to learn pronounced by Klara, AT&T's Natural Voices German text-to-speech voice font.

The GUT 1 product is available in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.  Demonstrations of the product can be downloaded from the Computer & Lernen Web site, www.comundlern.de.