Acapela Releases TTS Voices for NVDA
Acapela Group has introduced Acapela TTS voices for NVDA, enabling blind and visually impaired people to use Acapela's range of text-to-speech voices with the NVDA screen reader.
The NVDA project (Non Visual Desktop Access) enables blind and vision impaired people to use a computer by communicating what is on the screen using a synthetic voice or braille.
NVDA is the only screen reader for Microsoft Windows that is totally free, yet fully functional and portable.
"Around 285 million people in the world are blind or visually impaired. NV Access' mission is to make sure none of these people miss out on using a computer just because they can't afford an expensive screen reader," said Michael Curran, executive director of NV Access, in a statement. "With Acapela TTS Voices for NVDA, they can also gain access to high-quality, high-performing voices that will enhance the NVDA experience with speech fully adapted to their use."
Since its creation in April 2006, NVDA has been downloaded more than 70,000 times, is available in more than 40 languages, and is used in 120 countries.
Acapela Group in early 2014 announced the integration of the NVDA screen reader into infovox4 and a donation to NV Access for each unit of infovox4 sold.
Acapela will donate 10 Euros each time a unit of Acapela TTS voices for NVDA is sold.
"Accessibility is very important to Acapela. As a leading player in speech, fully committed for decades to making the life of users easier, it's our responsibility to support projects such as NVDA, which are key to information access, education and employment for millions of visually impaired people in the world," said Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group, in a statement.
The Acapela TTS voices for NVDA already support U.S., U.K., Australian, and Indian English, European and U.S. Spanish, European and Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Italian, and Greek. Voices are available in two versions, a Basic license or a Premium license. Both are multilingual and allow up to three installations.