Nuance Accessibility Suite Provides Exceptional Convenience for Mobile Devices

Nuance Communications, Inc., a speech and imaging solutions provider, announced the Nuance Accessibility Suite, a combination of Nuance ZOOMS application and the latest edition of Nuance TALKS™. This mobile accessibility solution helps handset users, with direct access to on-screen content and device functionality, make full use of mobile data. The suite provides clearer and larger displays on the handheld communications devices.

Devices that have small displays and smaller font sizes, like mobile phones, are difficult to use for visually impaired people. Nuance Accessibility Suite helps them by enhancing the way in which information is displayed, through verbal feedback, visual enhancement, or Braille keyboard support, and enables them to access the data within mobile devices. The Nuance TALKS™ is a market-leading screen reader for the blind or severely visually impaired that converts mobile phone text into easily comprehensible speech. The Nuance ZOOMS™ is a new application for users with mild to severe vision problems that enlarges the contents of mobile phone displays from 1.5 times up to 16 times.

“Now, with the Nuance Accessibility Suite, visually impaired users can take advantage of the capabilities found on today’s most sophisticated mobile handsets,” says Craig Peddie, vice president and general manager, Embedded Speech Solutions at Nuance.

Nuance ZOOMS is similar to a magnifying glass and can be moved across the screen to enlarge various elements. The zoom functions in accordance with the personal settings of the user. The user can scroll through the magnified menu of options. Key commands help the users easily move the magnifier to various functions. The user can even scroll, using the automatic smart scrolling feature, to get the full view of a magnified object that does not fit entirely onto the screen.

The Nuance ZOOMS enables visually impaired individuals to make full use of a mobile phone. The intelligent auto-scrolling and auto-zooming help the users to easily toggle through various functions. The Distributed Views mode magnifies the key areas of the display and makes the on-screen text and graphics more legible through invert color palettes and black and white or grayscale display.

The new improved version of Nuance TALKS converts the displayed text on mobile handsets into highly comprehensible speech. It works seamlessly with Nuance TALKS through shared key commands and synchronized magnification and announcement.

The Nuance TALKS 2.5 features variable settings for spelling speeds and number read-out facility. The Echo Mode for T9 Dictionary and Passwords speak out the letters of a password when text is entered. With the Key and Mode Timeout users can set a timeout and repeat a command or even execute different commands without pressing the TALKS key again. The Enhanced Support for Text-to-Speech helps switch to any licensed text-to-speech engine and language. The improved Braille Input/Output gives easy and instant access to Braille.

Nuance ZOOMS and Nuance TALKS are available separately or bundled together from a range of mobile network operators and accessibility dealers. The device can be installed on mobile handsets running the Symbian Series 60 operating system and the software is available in over 20 languages.

Source: Nuance Communications