Copyright: © Copyright Eloquent Technology Inc. 1996, 1997   © Copyright 1997 IBM Corp


Change Voice Properties

1	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

2	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Voice tab update to reflect the voice settings associated with the selected speaker.

3	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

4	Click on the voice (label) whose settings you want to view or change.

5	View or change the voice settings for the selected voice (label).  Once you change any of the voice settings, the phrase “(modified)”  will be appended to the name in the Label field.
  Vocal tract controls whether a male or female vocal tract should be used for the voice.
  Pitch contributes to how high or low the voice sounds.  It is measured in Hertz.  Children’s voices typically have the highest pitch, men’s voices the lowest pitch and women’s voices are between the two ranges.
  Speed controls the words spoken per minute.  A fast speaking rate is often associated with high levels of emotion.
  Volume controls the loudness of the voice.
  Head size controls one aspect of the deepness of the voice.  The larger the head, the deeper the voice.
  Pitch fluctuation.  A high pitch fluctuation is characteristic of an excited speaker.  A low pitch fluctuation typifies a monotone voice.
  Roughness.  Rough voices are characteristic of very low voices.
  Breathiness.  The maximum breathiness setting creates the sound of a whisper.

6	Click Test to listen to the voice.

7	Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the voice settings are to your liking.

8	Click Store to display the Edit Stored Voices dialog.

9	(Optional) Click:
  Describe As if you want to view or change the voice’s age and gender classifiers.  Click OK or Cancel to close the Describe As window.
  Show Test Panel if you want to compare the new voice settings with another voice, or you want to change the phrase spoken by the voice during the test.

10	Click one of the following:
  Save if you want to overwrite the existing voice settings for this voice (label) with the new voice settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.
  Save As if you want to save the voice settings under a new voice (label).
  Undo Changes if you want to revert back to the voice settings from the last time you opened the dialog box or selected Save or Save As.
  Delete if you want to erase the voice (label) and its settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.  Note:  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.

11	Click OK or Cancel to close the Edit Stored Voices dialog.  OK and Cancel do not save changes.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Change Features Properties

1	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

2	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Features tab update to reflect the features associated with the selected speaker.

3	Click the arrow to the right of Native language and dialect to display the list.

4	Click the language you want the speaker to use.

5	Click the arrow to the right of Style and select the speaking style you want the speaker to use.

6	(Optional) Click the tag processing options that you want the speaker to use.

Tag Extensions:
  Interpret causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be recognized and interpreted.
  Treat as unknown tags causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be treated as "unknown."  How "unknown" tags are processed depends on the setting for Unknown Tags.

Unknown Tags:
  Speak causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be spoken as individual characters and numbers.
  Ignore causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be ignored (neither interpreted nor spoken).

7	Click the Audio sampling rate that you want the speaker to use.
  PC (11.025 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the computer.
  Phone (8 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the telephone.

8	Click:
  Show Test Panel if you want to compare the new feature settings with another voice, or you want to change the phrase spoken by the voice during the test.
  Test if you want to listen to the voice using the selected feature settings.
  Save Speaker or Apply if you want to overwrite the existing feature settings for this speaker with the new feature settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined speakers.
  Save As if you want to save the feature settings under a new speaker.
  Delete Speaker if you want to erase the speaker and the feature settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined speakers.  Note:  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.

9	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.  OK and Cancel do not save changes.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Change Dictionaries Properties

1	Click the arrow to the right of Dictionary type to display the list of the dictionaries.

2	Click on the name of a dictionary.
  Special words contains entries which may include digits or other non-alphabetic symbols, or entries that require translations with annotations, SPRs, or other non-alphabetic symbols.
  Roots contains the root form of a word only.  This allows other forms such as plurals to use the customized pronunciation.
  Abbreviations contains entries that may include periods.

3	Click Edit.

4	Click Add to add a new term to the dictionary or click on a term in the dictionary and then click:
  Edit to change the selected dictionary term.
  Delete to erase the selected dictionary term.
  Key to listen to the pronunciation of the key for the selected dictionary term.  Note:  The key appears to the left of the > symbol.
  Trans to listen to the pronunciation of the translation that was provided by the user for the selected dictionary term.  Note: The translation appears to the right of the > symbol.

5	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.

6	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


View Identifiers Properties

1	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

2	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Identifiers tab update to reflect the selected speaker settings.  These settings provide information used by a software developer.

3	Click:
  Show Test Panel if you want to compare the selected speaker’s voice with another voice, or you want to change the phrase spoken by the voice during the test.
  Test if you want to listen to the voice.
  Save Speaker As if you want to save the settings under a new speaker.
  Delete Speaker if you want to erase the speaker.  This button is only enabled for user-defined speakers.  Note:  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.

4	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Select a Voice for a Speaker

Note

You cannot assign a different voice to a predefined speaker.

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Voice tab update to reflect the settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

5	Click on the voice (label) whose settings you want to use.

6	View or change the voice settings for the selected voice (label).

7	Click Test to listen to the voice.

8	Repeat steps 4 through 7 until the voice settings are to your liking.

9	Click one of the following:
  Save Speaker if the selected speaker was user-defined and you want to replace the existing voice with the new voice.
  Save Speaker As if the selected speaker was not user-defined or you want to preserve the existing speaker’s voice and create a new speaker.

10	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.  OK and Cancel do not save changes.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Create a New Voice

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click Store and then click Save As.

3	Type a description for the new voice (label) and then click OK.

4	View or change the voice settings for the selected voice (label).  Once you change any of the voice settings, the phrase “(modified)”  will be appended to the name in the Label field.
  Vocal tract controls whether a male or female vocal tract should be used for the voice.
  Pitch contributes to how high or low the voice sounds.  It is measured in Hertz.  Children’s voices typically have the highest pitch, men’s voices the lowest pitch and women’s voices are between the two ranges.
  Speed controls the words spoken per minute.  A fast speaking rate is often associated with high levels of emotion.
  Volume controls the loudness of the voice.
  Head size controls one aspect of the deepness of the voice.  The larger the head, the deeper the voice.
  Pitch fluctuation.  A high pitch fluctuation is characteristic of an excited speaker.  A low pitch fluctuation typifies a monotone voice.
  Roughness.  Rough voices are characteristic of very low voices.
  Breathiness.  The maximum breathiness setting creates the sound of a whisper.

5	Click Test to listen to the voice.

6	Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the voice settings are to your liking.

7	Click Save to save the changes.

8	Click OK or Cancel to close the Edit Stored Voices window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


View the Voice Settings for a Speaker

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Voice tab update to reflect the voice settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Listen to a Voice

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

3	Click on the voice (label) that you want to hear.

4	Click Test to listen to the voice.

5	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Compare Two Voices

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

3	Click on the voice (label) that you want to hear.

4	Click Show Test Panel.

5	(Optional) Type the phrase you want the voices to read during the test.

6	Click Test.

7	Click the arrow to the right of Comparison voice.

8	Click on the voice (label) that you want to use for the comparison.

9	Click Compare.

10	Repeat steps 6 through 9 to compare the selected voice  with other voices.

11	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Edit a Voice

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click Edit Stored Voices.

3	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

4	Click on the voice (label) that you want to change.

5	Change the voice settings for the selected voice (label).
  Vocal tract controls whether a male or female vocal tract should be used for the voice.
  Pitch contributes to how high or low the voice sounds.  It is measured in Hertz.  Children’s voices typically have the highest pitch, men’s voices the lowest pitch and women’s voices are between the two ranges.
  Speed controls the words spoken per minute.  A fast speaking rate is often associated with high levels of emotion.
  Volume controls the loudness of the voice.
  Head size controls one aspect of the deepness of the voice.  The larger the head, the deeper the voice.
  Pitch fluctuation.  A high pitch fluctuation is characteristic of an excited speaker.  A low pitch fluctuation typifies a monotone voice.
  Roughness.  Rough voices are characteristic of very low voices.
  Breathiness.  The maximum breathiness setting creates the sound of a whisper.

6	Click Test to listen to the voice.

7	Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the voice settings are to your liking.

8	(Optional) Click:
  Describe As if you want to view or change the voice’s age and gender classifiers.  Click OK or Cancel to close the Describe As window.
  Show Test Panel if you want to compare the new voice settings with another voice, or you want to change the phrase spoken by the voice during the test.

9	Click one of the following:
  Save if you want to overwrite the existing voice settings for this voice (label) with the new voice settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.
  Save As if you want to save the voice settings under a new voice (label).
  Undo Changes if you want to revert back to the voice settings from the last time you opened the dialog box or selected Save or Save As.
  Delete if you want to erase the voice (label) and its settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.  Note:  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.

10	Click OK or Cancel to close the Edit Stored Voices window.  OK and Cancel do not save changes.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Create a New Speaker

1	If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker whose characteristics are close to the new speaker you want to create.  The values in the Voice tab update to reflect the voice settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

5	Click on the voice (label) that you want to associate with the new speaker.

6	Click Features in the General window.

7	Click the arrow to the right of Native language and dialect to display the list.

8	Click the language you want the speaker to use.

9	Click the arrow to the right of Style and select the speaking style you want the speaker to use.

10	Click the tag processing options that you want the speaker to use.

Tag Extensions:
  Interpret causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be recognized and interpreted.
  Treat as unknown tags causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be treated as "unknown."  How "unknown" tags are processed depends on the setting for Unknown Tags.

Unknown Tags:
  Speak causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be spoken as individual characters and numbers.
  Ignore causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be ignored (neither interpreted nor spoken).

12	Click the Audio sampling rate that you want the speaker to use.
  PC (11.025 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the computer.
  Phone (8 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the telephone.

13	Click Save Speaker As.

14	Type a name for the new speaker in the Speaker field.

15	Type a description for the speaker in the Description field and then click OK.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Select a Speaker

1	If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.

4	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Delete a Speaker

1	 If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a user-defined speaker.

4	Click Delete Speaker.

5	Click OK to confirm the deletion.

6	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Delete a Voice

1	Click Voice in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click Edit Stored Voices.

3	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

4	Click on the name of a user-defined voice.

5	Click Delete.

6	Click OK to confirm the deletion.

7	Click OK or Cancel to close the Edit Stored Voices window.

8	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Note

If a user-defined voice is being used by one or more speakers, you must select a new voice for those speakers before you can delete the voice.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Add a Term to a Dictionary

1	Click the arrow to the right of Dictionary type to display the list of the dictionaries.

2	Click on the name of the dictionary that you want to add a term to.
  Special words contains entries which may include digits or other non-alphabetic symbols, or entries that require translations with annotations, SPRs, or other non-alphabetic symbols.
  Roots contains the root form of a word only.  This allows other forms such as plurals to use the customized pronunciation.
  Abbreviations contains entries that may include periods.

3	Click Edit.

4	Click Add to add a new term to the dictionary.

5	Type the new dictionary term in the Key field.  Examples

6	Type, into the Translation field, the way you want the word pronounced.  Examples

7	Click Speak to the right of the Translation field.

8	If the translation sounds correct, go to step 9.  If the translation still sounds incorrect, continue modifying the spelling and testing how it sounds.  If using ordinary spelling isn't working, switch to a phonetic alphabet form by clicking SPR From Translation.  Then change the letters, numbers and symbols in the SPR until the word is pronounced correctly.

9	Click OK to close the Dictionary Entry window.

10	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.

11	Click OK to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Edit a Dictionary Term

1	Click the arrow to the right of Dictionary type to display the list of the dictionaries.

2	Click on the name of the dictionary containing the term you want to change.
  Special words contains entries which may include digits or other non-alphabetic symbols, or entries that require translations with annotations, SPRs, or other non-alphabetic symbols.
  Roots contains the root form of a word only.  This allows other forms such as plurals to use the customized pronunciation.
  Abbreviations contains entries that may include periods.

3	Click Edit.

4	Click on the dictionary term that you want to change.

5	Click Edit.

6	Type the changes to the dictionary term in the Key field.  Examples

7	Type, into the Translation field, the way you want the word pronounced.  Examples

8	Click Speak to the right of the Translation field.

9	If the translation sounds correct, go to step 10.  If the translation still sounds incorrect, continue modifying the spelling and testing how it sounds.  If using ordinary spelling isn't working, switch to a phonetic alphabet form by clicking SPR From Translation.  Then change the letters, numbers and symbols in the SPR until the word is pronounced correctly.

10	Click OK to close the Dictionary Entry window.

11	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.

12	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Listen to the Pronunciation of a Dictionary Term

1	Click the arrow to the right of Dictionary type to display the list of the dictionaries.

2	Click on the name of the dictionary containing the term you want to hear.
  Special words contains entries which may include digits or other non-alphabetic symbols, or entries that require translations with annotations, SPRs, or other non-alphabetic symbols.
  Roots contains the root form of a word only.  This allows other forms such as plurals to use the customized pronunciation.
  Abbreviations contains entries that may include periods.

3	Click Edit.

4	Click on the dictionary term that you want to hear.

5	Click:
  Key to hear the pronunciation of the key.  Note:  The key appears to the left of the > symbol.
 Trans to hear the pronunciation of the translation.  Note: The translation appears to the right of the > symbol.

6	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.

7	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Delete a Dictionary Term

1	Click the arrow to the right of Dictionary type to display the list of the dictionaries.

2	Click on the name of the dictionary containing the term you want to delete.
  Special words contains entries which may include digits or other non-alphabetic symbols, or entries that require translations with annotations, SPRs, or other non-alphabetic symbols.
  Roots contains the root form of a word only.  This allows other forms such as plurals to use the customized pronunciation.
  Abbreviations contains entries that may include periods.

3	Click Edit.

4	Click on the dictionary term that you want to delete.

5	Click Delete to remove the term from the dictionary.

6	Click on OK to confirm the deletion.

7	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.

8	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Select a Speaking Style for a Speaker

1	Click Features in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Features tab update to reflect the settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the arrow to the right of Style and select the speaking style you want the speaker to use.

5	Click one of the following:
  Save Speaker if the selected speaker was user-defined and you want to replace the existing speaker settings with the new settings.
  Save Speaker As if the selected speaker was not user-defined or you want to preserve the speaker and create a new speaker.

6	Click OK to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Select an Audio Sampling Rate for the Speaker

1	Click Features in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Features tab update to reflect the settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the Audio sampling rate that you want the speaker to use.
  PC (11.025 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the computer.
  Phone (8 kHz) optimizes the speaker’s sampling rate for the telephone.

5	Click one of the following:
  Save Speaker if the selected speaker was user-defined and you want to replace the existing speaker settings with the new settings.
  Save Speaker As if the selected speaker was not user-defined or you want to preserve the speaker and create a new speaker.

6	Click OK or Cancel to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Change the Tag Processing Options

1	Click Features in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Features tab update to reflect the settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the tag processing options that you want the speaker to use.
Tag Extensions:
  Interpret causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be recognized and interpreted.
  Treat as unknown tags causes all ViaVoice Outloud tags to be treated as "unknown."  How "unknown" tags are processed depends on the setting for Unknown Tags.

Unknown Tags:
  Speak causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be spoken as individual characters and numbers.
  Ignore causes all unknown ViaVoice Outloud tags to be ignored (neither interpreted nor spoken).

5	Click one of the following:
  Save Speaker if the selected speaker was user-defined and you want to replace the existing speaker settings with the new settings.
  Save Speaker As if the selected speaker was not user-defined or you want to preserve the speaker and create a new speaker.

6	Click OK to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Select a Language or Dialect for a Speaker

1	Click Features in the General window.  (If the General window is not displayed, click Voice Models and then Advanced Voice Settings.)

2	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

3	Click on the name of a speaker.  The values in the Features tab update to reflect the settings associated with the selected speaker.

4	Click the arrow to the right of Native language and dialect to display the list.

5	Click the language you want the speaker to use.

6	Click Test to hear the speaker voice in the selected language.

7	Click one of the following:
  Save Speaker if the selected speaker was user-defined and you want to replace the existing speaker settings with the new settings.
  Save Speaker As if the selected speaker was not user-defined or you want to preserve the speaker and create a new speaker.

8	Click OK to close the General window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Save Speaker As

1	Type the name you want to use for the speaker.

2	Type a description for the speaker.  For example, “Adult female - slow talking” or “Child whispering.”

3	Click OK to save the information or Cancel to close the Save Speaker As window without saving the information.

Note

The GUID is the speaker identifier assigned by the ViaVoice Outloud program.  You cannot change this information.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Describe Voice As

1	Click on the gender that best describes the current voice.  By default, this setting will match the Vocal Tract setting in the Voice tab.

2	Click the arrow to the right of Age to display the list of ages.  By default, the age classification will match the age classification of the voice used to create the current voice.

3	Click OK to save the information or Cancel to close the Describe Voice As window without saving the information.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Voice Deletion Error

Note

The Voice Deletion Error appears when you attempt to delete a user-defined voice that is used by one or more speakers.  To delete a user-defined voice that is used by one or more speakers, you must first select another voice for these speakers.

1	Make a note of all speakers listed in the Voice Deletion Error box.

2	Click OK to close the error window.

3	Save any changes in the Edit Stored Voices window, and return to the General window.

4	Click the arrow to the right of Speaker to display the list of speakers.

5	Click on the name of a speaker that was listed in the Voice Deletion Error box.

6	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

7	Click on the voice that you want to use with the current speaker.

8	Click Save Speaker.

9	Repeat steps 3 through 7 until all speakers listed in the Voice Deletion Error box have a new voice.

10	Delete the user-defined voice.


Save Voice As

1	Type a description that you want to use to identify the voice.  For example, Loud Monotone Male.

2	Click OK to save the information or Cancel to close the Save Voice As window without saving the information.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Edit Stored Voices

1	Click the arrow to the right of Label to display the list of voices.

2	Click on the voice (label) that you want to change.

3	Change the voice settings for the selected voice (label).
  Vocal tract controls whether a male or female vocal tract should be used for the voice.
  Pitch contributes to how high or low the voice sounds.  It is measured in Hertz.  Children’s voices typically have the highest pitch, men’s voices the lowest pitch and women’s voices are between the two ranges.
  Speed controls the words spoken per minute.  A fast speaking rate is often associated with high levels of emotion.
  Volume controls the loudness of the voice.
  Head size controls one aspect of the deepness of the voice.  The larger the head, the deeper the voice.
  Pitch fluctuation.  A high pitch fluctuation is characteristic of an excited speaker.  A low pitch fluctuation typifies a monotone voice.
  Roughness.  Rough voices are characteristic of very low voices.
  Breathiness.  The maximum breathiness setting creates the sound of a whisper.

4	Click Test to listen to the voice.

5	Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the voice settings are to your liking.

6	(Optional) Click:
  Describe As if you want to view or change the voice’s age and gender classifiers.  Click OK or Cancel to close the Describe As window.
  Show Test Panel if you want to compare the new voice settings with another voice, or you want to change the phrase spoken by the voice during the test.  Click OK or Cancel to close the test panel.

7	Click one of the following:
  Save if you want to overwrite the existing voice settings for this voice (label) with the new voice settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.
  Save As if you want to save the voice settings under a new voice (label).
  Undo Changes if you want to revert back to the voice settings from the last time you opened the dialog box or selected Save or Save As.
  Delete if you want to erase the voice (label) and its settings.  This button is only enabled for user-defined voices.  Note:  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.

8	Click OK or Cancel to close the Edit Stored Voices window.  OK and Cancel do not save changes.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Dictionary Entry

Add a Dictionary Term:

1	Type the new dictionary term in the Key field.  Examples

2	Type, into the Translation field, the way you want the word pronounced.  Examples

3	Click Speak to the right of the Translation field.

4	If the translation sounds correct, go to step 5.  If the translation still sounds incorrect, continue modifying the spelling and testing how it sounds.  If using ordinary spelling isn't working, switch to a phonetic alphabet form by clicking SPR From Translation.  Then change the letters, numbers and symbols in the SPR until the word is pronounced correctly.

5	Click OK to save your entry and close the Dictionary Entry window.

Edit a Dictionary Term:

1	Type the changes to the dictionary term in the Key field.  Examples

2	Type, into the Translation field, the way you want the word pronounced.  Examples

3	Click Speak to the right of the Translation field.

4	If the translation sounds correct, go to step 5. If the translation still sounds incorrect, continue modifying the spelling and testing how it sounds.  If using ordinary spelling isn't working, switch to a phonetic alphabet form by clicking SPR From Translation.  Then change the letters, numbers and symbols in the SPR until the word is pronounced correctly.

5	Click OK to save your entry and close the Dictionary Entry window.

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


Edit Dictionary

Use this window to:

•	Add new terms to the currently displayed dictionary .

•	Edit a term in the currently displayed dictionary .

•	Delete a term from the currently displayed dictionary .

•	Listen to the Key and Translation of a term in the currently displayed dictionary. .

Click Contents at the top of this window for other tasks.


tags

Tags are special codes which you can insert into the text to make the text-to-speech engine behave in certain ways.  Tags control attributes like voice characteristics, word emphasis, number interpretation, and much more.  For example:

\Spd=282\	Speak 282 words per minute.
\xWac=4\	Put very heavy emphasis (level 4) on the following word.
\xSpl=allchars\	Pronounce all characters individually by name.

Some tags are part of the Microsoft Speech Application Programmer’s Interface (SAPI).  ViaVoice Outloud tags are ViaVoice extensions for SAPI tags.


user-defined

Created by a user.  Contrast with predefined.


predefined

Shipped with ViaVoice Outloud.  Contrast with user-defined.


key

The string of characters that the dictionary routine searches for.  For example, if you wanted to add the word diskette to the dictionary, the key would be diskette.


translation

The specified pronunciation of a dictionary entry.


speaker

A speaker is a collection of settings.  Each speaker has settings for particular voice characteristics, a language and dialect, a style of speaking, and a set of dictionaries to use.  A speaker also has settings for tag processing and audio sampling rates.

For example, you could have a speaker named “Gramps” who uses an elderly male voice, speaks English, uses a set of dictionaries customized for telling children’s stories, and uses a sampling rate of 11.025 kHz.  Or, you might want a speaker designed to give medical facts over the phone, one who uses a neutral adult voice, speaks English, uses a set of medical dictionaries, and uses a sampling rate of 8 kHz.

The user can modify all speaker settings through the Advanced Voice Settings button.


voice

A voice is a set of characteristics that affect how the speaker sounds.  These characteristics include such features as head size, pitch, and breathiness.

A voice is just one of the properties of a speaker.


vocal tract

Male and female vocal tracts have physical differences that affect the voice.  The vocal tract setting for the voice reflects some of these physical differences.  Other differences between male and female voices, namely pitch and head size, are controlled independently.


phonetic spelling

A phonetic spelling uses special symbols like those found in the pronunciation guide of a dictionary.  It has one symbol for each sound and indicates which syllables receive stress.


Add a Dictionary Term

Click Add in the Edit Dictionary window.


Edit a Dictionary Term

1	Click on the dictionary term you want to change.

2	Click Edit.


Delete a Dictionary Term

1	Click on the dictionary term you want to delete.

2	Click Delete.

3	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.


Listen to a Dictionary Term

1	Click on the dictionary term you want to hear.

2	Click:
  Key to hear the pronunciation of the key.  Note:  The key appears to the left of the > symbol.
 Trans to hear the pronunciation of the translation.  Note: The translation appears to the right of the > symbol.

3	Click Close to close the Edit Dictionary window.


Examples of Key Entries

Abbreviations Dictionary

lic (license)

sgt (sergeant)

grad (graduate)

Special Words Dictionary

AWSA (American Woman Suffrage `0 Association)

Win32 (win thirty two)

Roots Dictionary

Macbeth (`[.0mxk.1bET])

macrame  (`[.1mAk.0rx.2me]  or macramay)


Examples of Translations

Abbreviations Dictionary

license (lic)

sergeant (sgt)

graduate (grad)

Special Words Dictionary

American Woman Suffrage `0 Association (AWSA)

win thirty two (Win32)

Roots Dictionary

`[.0mxk.1bET] (Macbeth)

`[.1mAk.0rx.2me]  or macramay (macrame)


Valid Letters, Numbers, and Symbols in an SPR

Which language are you using?

American English

British English

Standard German

Standard French


American English SPRs

Notes on SPRs

•	Only the following letters, numbers, and symbols are allowed in an American English SPR (Symbolic Phonetic Representation, or phonetic spelling of the word).  In the following table, underlined portions of example words indicate the normal English spelling of the sound.  (Due to dialectal differences in pronunciation, there may be examples that don't match your pronunciation.)

•	Letters are case sensitive, so `[a] and `[A] represent two different sounds.

•	A . (period) appears at the beginning of every syllable in an SPR generated by the text-to-speech program.  However, syllable boundaries in SPR entries will have no effect on the program's internal syllabification rules.

•	A syllable may be marked for stress level with a 0, 1, or 2 to the left of the vowel.

•	If a word has more than one syllable, one of these syllables must be marked for stress level 1.

•	[ ] (brackets) surround each SPR.

•	A ` (backquote) precedes each opening bracket: `[

•	If the SPR contains invalid characters, has no vowel, or does not have a required stress indicator, it will be read out as individual characters rather than pronounced as a word.

Regular Vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
a	rod, father
A	back, had
e	cake, pain
E	hedge, let
i	see, speak, believe
I	pick, ill
o	both, oak
c	law, cough
u	zoo, truth
U	took, put
H	but, mug, son
R	butter, hurt
Diphthongs:

Symbol	Example Words
W	out, cow
O	toil, boy
Y	life, fine
Reduced vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
x	sofa, alone, suppose, tedious, America
X	roses, connect, melody, symphony, hinted
Consonants:

Symbol	Example Words
b	bad, sob
p	pit, rip
d	dip, had
t	tip, pet
g	good, bug
k	kill, make, back
D	this, breathe
T	thing, Beth
v	vase, save
f	field, if, graph
z	zip, phase
s	seal, miss, ceiling
Z	treasure, garage
S	ship, wish
J	Jane, huge
C	chip, witch
h	hot, hero
m	man, hum, summer
n	never, sun, winner
G	sing, finger
r	borrow, rake
l	low, hall
y	yes, Virginia
w	wear, quick
?	("glottal stop")	kitten, Latin
F	("flap")	writer, fiddle
N	("syllabic nasal")	button, satin, eaten, burden
Syllable Stress

1	primary stress (most prominent stress in the word)
2	secondary stress
0	no stress


British English SPRs

Notes on SPRs

•	Only the following letters, numbers, and symbols are allowed in an British English SPR (Symbolic Phonetic Representation, or phonetic spelling of the word).  In the following table, underlined portions of example words indicate the normal English spelling of the sound.  (Due to dialectal differences in pronunciation, there may be examples that don't match your pronunciation.)

•	Letters are case sensitive, so `[a] and `[A] represent two different sounds.

•	A . (period) appears at the beginning of every syllable in an SPR generated by the text-to-speech program.  However, syllable boundaries in SPR entries will have no effect on the program's internal syllabification rules.

•	A syllable may be marked for stress level with a 0, 1, or 2 to the left of the vowel.

•	If a word has more than one syllable, one of these syllables must be marked for stress level 1.

•	[ ] (brackets) surround each SPR.

•	A ` (backquote) precedes each opening bracket:  `[

•	If the SPR contains invalid characters, has no vowel, or does not have a required stress indicator, it will be read out as individual characters rather than pronounced as a word.

Regular Vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
a	path, father, chant
A	back, had
e	cake, pain
E	hedge, let
i	see, speak, believe
I	pick, ill
o	both, oak
c	law, court, hall, water
@	rod,  cough
u	zoo, truth
U	took, put
H	but, mug, son
R	butter, hurt
Diphthongs:

Symbol	Example Words
W	out, cow
O	toil, boy
Y	life, fine
Reduced vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
x	sofa, alone, suppose, America
X	roses, connect, melody, symphony, hinted, tedious
Consonants:

Symbol	Example Words
b	bad, sob
p	pit, rip
d	dip, had
t	tip, pet
g	good, bug
k	kill, make, back
D	this, breathe
T	thing, Beth
v	vase, save
f	field, if, graph
z	zip, phase
s	seal, miss, ceiling
Z	treasure, garage
S	ship, wish
J	Jane, huge
C	chip, witch
h	hot, hero
m	man, hum, summer
n	never, sun, winner
G	sing, finger
r	borrow, rake
l	low, hall
y	yes, Virginia
w	wear, quick
F	("flap")	woody, paddle
L	("syllabic l")	cattle, bottle, curdle
Syllable Stress

1	primary stress (most prominent stress in the word)
2	secondary stress
0	no stress


German SPRs

Notes on SPRs

•	Only the following letters, numbers, and symbols are allowed in an German SPR (Symbolic Phonetic Representation, or phonetic spelling of the word).  In the following table, underlined portions of example words indicate the normal German spelling of the sound.  (Due to dialectal differences in pronunciation, there may be examples that don't match your pronunciation.)

•	Letters are case sensitive, so `[e] and `[E] represent two different sounds.

•	Two-character symbols must be contained in single quotes.  For example: wägen `[.1v'E:'.0g@n]

•	A . (period) appears at the beginning of every syllable.

•	A syllable may be marked for stress level with a 0, 1, or 2 immediately to the left of the vowel.

•	If a word has more than one syllable, one of these syllables must be marked for stress level 1.

•	 [ ] (brackets) surround each SPR.

•	A ` (backquote) precedes each opening bracket:  `[

•	If the SPR contains invalid characters, has no vowel, or does not have a required stress indicator, it will be read out as individual characters rather than pronounced as a word.

Vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
i	lieben, Titel, tief
I	bitte, Tisch, Licht
e	geben, Ehre, See
E	treffen, Geld, kämmen
'E:'	Käse, Mädchen, wägen
a	Haar, haben, fahren
A	lassen, matt, Apfel
u	gut, Uhr, Uwe
U	Hund, Fluß, Mutter
o	ober, ohne, Boot
O	Kopf, Stopp
y	Bücher, Tür, kühn
Y	fünf, füllen, Künstler
'oe'	Löwe, hören, Söhne
'OE'	können, hölzern, östlich
@	bitte, Kamera, Boden
Diphthongs:

Symbol	Example Words
'aj'	heim, Waise, Mai
'aw'	Haus, Maul, Frau
'oj'	heute, Gebäude, Häuser

Nasalized Vowels (occur in borrowings only):

Symbol	Example Words
'E~'	Teint
'a~'	Chance
'o~'	Pardon
'oe~'	Parfum
Consonants:

Symbol	Example Words
b	Boden, Bett, oben
p	Papier, Lippe, Grab
d	dunkel, kindisch, bunde, Helden
t	Tag, bitte, Rad
g	geben, grau, Tage
k	Katze, Ecke, Skulptur, lag, quitt
v	Wagen, viskös, Volum, oval
f	fast, hoffen, Vater
z	See, Satz, lesen
s	Fuß, lassen, Last, Haus
Z	Jalousie, Genie
S	schon, spielen, Stil, wäscht
X	ich, Chemie, Kelch, mancher
x	Buch, Bach, Wochen
P	Pflanze, Stumphen
T	Zauber, Polizei, Glanz
J	Job, Dschungel
C	deutsch, Chile, Cello
m	Mann, kommen, Atem
n	Nacht, können, Kind
G	Finger, längs, Anfang
l	lesen, fallen, Pult
r	Rad, führen, mehr, Kerl
R	Wieder, über
j	Junge, ja, Jahr, Ministerium
w	Eduard, aktuell, Januar
h	hoch, Hand, Ahorn
Syllable Stress

1	primary stress (most prominent stress in the word)
2	secondary stress
0	no stress


French SPRs

Notes on SPRs

•	Only the following letters, numbers, and symbols are allowed in an French SPR (Symbolic Phonetic Representation, or phonetic spelling of the word).  In the following table, underlined portions of example words indicate the normal French spelling of the sound.  (Due to dialectal differences in pronunciation, there may be examples that don't match your pronunciation.)

•	Letters are case sensitive, so `[e] and `[E] represent two different sounds.

•	Two-character symbols must be contained in single quotes.  For example: jeune `[.Z1'oe'n]

•	A . (period) appears at the beginning of every syllable in an SPR generated by the text-to-speech program.  However, syllable boundaries in SPR entries will have no effect on the program's internal syllabification rules.

•	A syllable may be marked for stress level with a 0, 1, or 2 immediately to the left of the vowel.

•	If a word has more than one syllable, one of these syllables must be marked for stress level 1.

•	In French, and underscore character ( _ ) can be added to the end of an SPR (but within the [ ] brackets) to indicate liaison.

•	[ ] (brackets) surround each SPR.

•	A ` (backquote) precedes each opening bracket:  `[

•	If the SPR contains invalid characters, has no vowel, or does not have a required stress indicator, it will be read out as individual characters rather than pronounced as a word.

Vowels:

Symbol	Example Words
a	pattes, lac, cave
e	café, déformer, été
E	père, annuaire, mer
i	film, type, rythmique
o	paule, tôt, eaux
c	paul, note, échalotte
u	roue, où, aôut, tour
y	utile, pure, Bruno
'eu'	peu, jeûner, émeute
'oe'	peur, jeune, déjeuner
'a~'	banc, en, temps
'E~'	fin, plein, faim
'o~'	bon, pont, mon
'oe~'	un, aucun, brun
x	litres, marbre

Consonants:

Symbol	Example Words
b	bébé, balle, robe
p	porte, prêt, guêpe
d	dort, dolmen, addition
t	ton, patte, théâtre
g	guerre, bague, garer
k	kilo, caler, quai
v	laver, wagon, visiter
f	chef, faim, phare
z	jaser, réseau, zigzaguer
s	sans, ambition, façon
Z	rage, gîte, jouer
S	cheval, lâche, schéma
m	maman, femme, mettre
n	Anne, ni, anonyme
'nj'	agneau, campagne
'ng'	parking, camping
r	parer, rare, carreau
l	litre, illisible, pâle
j	hiérarchie, paille, yéyé
w	oui, moi, voilà
H	lui, nuit, nuée

Syllable Stress

1	primary stress (most prominent stress in the word)
2	secondary stress
0	no stress
Liaison

_	(underscore character) allow liaison if the following word begins with a vowel.  For example:
	`[p0'oe't1it_]	The [t] will not be pronounced unless the following word begins with a vowel.
	`[p0'oe't1it]	The [t] will always be pronounced.


Glossary

alphanumeric

content word

emphasis

function word

intonation

intonational phrase

key

phonetic spelling

pitch

predefined

root

speaker

stress

syllable

tags

translation

user-defined

vocal tract

voice

voice box

white space


emphasis

Emphasis is the prominence given to a word relative to other words in an utterance.


alphanumeric

Alphabetic (a, b, c) and numeric (1, 2, 3) symbols.


content word

The type of word that constitutes most of the vocabulary, such as:

•	Nouns (story, happiness, sun, mile...)

•	Verbs (ride, chew, listen, bring, believe, remain...)

•	Adjectives (brilliant, awful, three, new, darkest...)

•	Adverbs (often, far, much, calmly, happily...)

Content words are distinguished from function words


function word

Grammatical words such as:

•	Conjunctions (and, or, but)

•	Articles and determiners (a, an, the, this, those)

•	Auxiliaries (can, may, will, must, should)

•	prepositions (to, from, over)

•	pronouns (she, her, we, they, it)

Function words are contrasted with content words, and are normally pronounced with reduced emphasis.


intonation

Changes in pitch across an utterance which are not related to the meaning of individual words.  Intonation conveys, for example:

•	The difference between questions and statements

•	Contrastive emphasis, used in statements that contradict or parallel a previous statement (for example, Terry has a cold but JANET has pneumonia.)

•	Statement completion or closure


intonational phrase

In ViaVoice Outloud, an intonational phrase is usually marked off by punctuation, such as a comma, period, or question mark.

Examples:

One phrase:	He's a child?
Two phrases:	He's a child, though growing quickly.
Three phrases:	He's a child, an old child, but a child.
One exception to this is sentences with quotations such as the following, which is treated as a single intonational phrase rather than two.  The nuclear accent falls on the last content word in the quotation rather than the last content word in the sentence.

"Because I'm a lousy singer," I said.


pitch

How high or low a voice sounds.


root

The base form of a word, without prefixes (like un-) or suffixes (like plural -s or past tense -ed).


stress

Stress is the prominence given to a syllable, relative to other syllables in the word.


syllable

A syllable is a unit of speech containing, at a minimum, a sonorant nucleus such as a vowel or diphthong.  The syllable may also contain one or more consonants surrounding the vowel.

For example:

One syllable	Two syllables
oh	okay
strode	striding
said	saying
rough	roughhouse


voice box

The common term "voice box" refers to the larynx, a roughly cylindrical arrangement of cartilage and muscle located at the top of the wind pipe (trachea), and containing the "vocal cords" (which are really more like "folds" than cords).


white space

One or more spaces made with the spacebar or tab key.