Cepstral Provide Voices to Universal Learning Device from Premier Assistive Technology

Key to Access, an MP3-based universal learning device for individuals with print-related disabilities, was released by Premier Assistive Technology. The portable 2-inch device is USB compatible and gives ready access to speech enabled software.

An inexpensive and easy-to-use alternative to costly and complex dedicated machines, Key to Access facilitates effortless access for vision or print-impaired people to more easily use any computer or laptop. Schools and organizations can particularly benefit from this product. Since the Key to Access device can be plugged into any computer with a USB port, users can work alongside colleagues on the machine of their choice. Tricia Dwyer-Kuntz, a user of Key to Access from the Durham Catholic District School Board said, “It is a brilliant device that I take wherever I go. The Key to Access truly represents universal design for learning.”

Cepstral’s text-to-speech (TTS) engine and voices is integrated onto Key to Access to enable it to speak textual information aloud. Chairman and co-founder of Premier Assistive Steve Timmer said, “The relationship with Cepstral is a natural fit.” The synthetic TTS voices from Cepstral provide the audio interface for different Premier software applications like Universal Reader Plus, Talking Word Processor, Scan and Read Pro, Text to Audio, PDF Magic, EText Reader, Ultimate Talking Dictionary and Talking Calculator. Kevin Lenzo, president and CEO of Cepstral said, “Premier has engineered a great set of products, making them effective and easy-to-use anywhere.”

Source: Cepstral