Voice of Vision
Volume 2 Number 3 -- July 1994

VV is a quarterly newsletter published by GW Micro.  It is
available in large print, on IBM compatible disk, on audio tape, or
in Braille.  Subscription information can be found at the end of
the magazine.

We've had such response to certain articles we've decided to
include a few articles and hints from issues of the past year which
readers have indicated are of general interest.  In addition,
regular readers will find one new article, a review of WordPerfect
6.0B, as well as new announcements.

This issue has been sent to you free of charge.  Regular
subscribers will have another issue added to the end of their
subscription, so a years subscription will include five issues.

--------------------
Product Review

This regular review does not attempt to replicate the in-depth
articles done by magazines such as Byte, PC Computing, etc.  We
look at these products from the point of view of speech users. 
Does it do what we want it to do?  Does it speak?  How well?  Is
the interface designed in such a way as to allow a blind user to
understand the program?

In our simple rating system, a rating of zero means the program
will not talk at all.  This score would be given to an application
that uses only a graphics user interface.  A score of ten would
designate a program that spoke perfectly, giving access to all
features.  Applications of this type are rare.  Incidentally, a
score of ten for one program does not mean that it is a better
piece of software than another with a score of nine.  A program
with few features has an easier job of speaking well than one that
is more complex.

WordPerfect 6.0B
by Crista Shaikh
Rating:  9.0

WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS was released last July and quickly
developed a reputation for being buggy.  It did seem to have many
lock-up problems and there were idiosyncrasies in some of the
printer drivers, but in the past year WordPerfect Corporation has
gone through two revisions, enhancing features and eliminating many
bugs.  WP 6.0 has become a stable, up-to-date tool.

Features aside, the most-asked question that our technical support
staff hears regarding WordPerfect 6.0 is, Does it talk?  The answer
is an unqualified yes.  SET files have been available for it since
June of 1993 (yes, before WP 6 was released) and have been updated
several times to accommodate 6.0A and 6.0B as well as some of the
less popular features that we didn't originally address.  This
article discusses the details of WPs "Speakability."

If you've upgraded from WordPerfect 5.1 to WordPerfect 6.0, you've
notice some radical changes in the way the screen looks.  One of
the things that made WP 5.1 so cooperative for screen readers was
that it put all its messages in the same place, on line
twenty-five.  This meant that you only had to tell your screen
reader to monitor one small part of the screen, in the case of
Vocal-Eyes the first five characters of line twenty-five, and you
could be sure you would hear every error message or instruction
that WP gave.  With 6.0, however, most of the messages are
displayed in boxes in the center of the screen.  The size of the
boxes varies, depending on the length of the message contained. 
Other messages, on the other hand, are displayed on line
twenty-five as before.

In WP 5.1, menus were displayed in one of two ways:  either across
the bottom of the screen (the CTRL-F4 MOVE menu) or filling the
entire screen (the SHIFT-F8 FORMAT menu).  In WordPerfect 6.0,
menus are now displayed in boxes in the center of the screen.  They
differ from messages in that they have a light bar which is moved
by pressing the arrow keys or the TAB key and in some cases there
are smaller boxes within the larger ones.  Moreover, menu screens
are more complex in WP 6.0 than they were in WP 5.1.  Besides color
differences which indicate important or unimportant items, there
are buttons across the bottom of some which allow you to choose
items such as CANCEL and OK.  Many users have been put off by this
increased complexity.  If you've just started using WP 6.0, you've
probably tried to do things like press your read-line key to find
out where you were and have found out that that isn't very
informative.

These changes, instead of making WordPerfect less speech friendly,
have made it more so.  Lets look at a few examples of improvements
in things you probably do every day in WP 5.1.

If you use WordPerfect much, you probably know that to change the
left and right margins from one-inch to one-half-inch, you press
SHIFT-F8, then press letter or number choices until WordPerfect
prompts you for the size margins you would like.  That works very
well if you know what you're doing.  You don't have to have a
screen reader at all.  If you don't have the sequence memorized,
however, the steps are a bit more clumsy.  You still press
SHIFT-F8, but then you listen to the menu until you hear your
choice, or you use review mode or the VE cursor to selectively read
what is on the screen.  Once you find what you need, you press the
menu option and then listen to the next menu until you hear your
next choice, press the appropriate letter or number, and continue
until you have set things the way you want them.  This is not a
very difficult operation, but it is tricky for beginners because
they have to listen to so much and remember menu numbers or must
know how to use review mode or the VE cursor.  Contrast this with
the way WP 6.0 handles the same operation.

In WP 6.0, you still press SHIFT-F8.  You then use the up and down
arrow keys to move through the menu items until you find what you
want.  You don't need to memorize the things you're hearing.  If
the last thing spoken wasn't what you were looking for, you simply
press the arrow key again.  When you find what you want, you press
ENTER and that will open up a new menu or prompt you for input.  If
you prefer, you can still use the letter or number of the item to
jump directly to your choice.  In short, the menus are much more
usable then they were in WordPerfect 5.1.  This applies not only to
the FORMAT menu, but also to PRINT, SET-UP, MOVE, DATE, MERGE,
GRAPHICS, and all the assorted menus that WordPerfect offers.

Have you ever set tabs in WordPerfect 5.1?  If so, you've had to be
resourceful.  You can enter tabs by number by typing in the
measurement in inches, but in order to learn existing settings, you
have to get out of tab set and go to reveal codes.  Not impossible,
but tricky.  In WP 6.0, on the other hand, the position of each tab
is announced as you move your cursor to it.  This is much more
convenient.

Another big improvement is in the way the template is displayed
under HELP.  When you buy WordPerfect you get a little strip they
call a template which has a map of the function keys and what each
one does.  It is set up in column and row format with F1, F2, F3,
etc. across the top and CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, and a blank spot down the
side.  This can also be displayed in any version of WP by pressing
the HELP key twice.  The WP 5.1 template can be read only clumsily
by using review mode or the VE cursor.  In WP 6.0, however, each
function is accessible via a light bar and Vocal-Eyes reads the key
enhancement, CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT, followed by the function key.  In
other words, as you cursor to the right you hear SHELL CONTROL-F1,
SPELLER CONTROL-F2, SCREEN CONTROL-F3,  and so on.  Furthermore,
once you hear the key you think you want, you can press enter to
get help on that key.  This is a very nice improvement over WP 5.1.

A similar improvement has been made in the way the thesaurus is
displayed.  Your cursor, in the form of a light bar, is placed on
a word in the thesaurus listing and you are able to cursor among
the words, allowing you to hear them one at a time, rather than all
in one list as was the case with WordPerfect 5.1.

These are a few examples of added conveniences in this upgrade. 
Numerous new features have been added, one of which is of
particular interest to visually impaired users.  This is the added
FAX capability.  By using WP 6.0 and a FAX modem, you can send
faxes directly from within WordPerfect.  You can also receive
faxes, but you must use some sort of OCR software such as Open Book
to read the text.

If you are trying to decide whether to upgrade from WordPerfect
5.1, one question you may have is whether you'll be giving up
Speakability  in favor of features.  Features that don't talk, we
all know, are not features.  WordPerfect, in spite of its more
complex screens, is considerably more speech friendly than
WordPerfect 5.1.  I don't think you'll feel you've given up any
ease-of-use in the speech department by upgrading.  On the other
hand, you may not need many of the new features  WP has added. 
Whether the added features are worth the money, you can take up
with WordPerfect Corp.

--------------------
What About Voice Input?
by Doug Geoffray

Some of you may or may not be aware that Vocal-Eyes actually comes
in two flavors.  We have the standard version and we also have the
Dragon/VoiceType version.  Here Ill discuss DragonDictate Starter
Edition, Classic Edition, Power Edition, and the Dragon/VoiceType
version of Vocal-Eyes.

Approximately two years ago I was contacted by National Easter
Seals to see if Vocal-Eyes could be use with DragonDictate.  The
DragonDictate and IBM VoiceType are large-vocabulary voice
recognition products.  These allow you to talk to your machine
instead of typing at the keyboard.  You can dictate a letter to
your machine instead of typing it.  Almost everything that you can
do from the keyboard can be done by talking to your machine.  The
DragonDictate Starter Edition allows for 5,000 words, the Classic
Edition allows for 30,000 words, and the Power Edition allows for
60,000 words.  The IBM VoiceType although viable back then is not
a good choice today for several reasons.  The remainder of this
article will deal only with the DragonDictate series although
everything said can be applied to the IBM VoiceType as well.

To put the vocabulary sizes into perspective, IBM did a research
study which showed the average college graduates vocabulary is
7,000 words.  I will add that many have disputed this and believe
it is much larger than 7,000 words.  Thirty thousand words is as
many words as Shakespeare used to create all his works.  You can
also add proper names, jargon, or  any words or phrases suited to
your specific needs.  This is an important advantage if you need a
customized vocabulary for a specific job or industry.  All systems
are so flexible that you can replace all 5,000, 30,000 or 60,000
words with your own.

How does it work?  Let me pull the following description from the
DragonDictate literature.

DragonDictate's high performance is based on its recognition of
phonemes and subphonemic acoustic elements, the building blocks of
speech.  Essentially, DragonDictate identifies these speech blocks,
groups them into words, and then compares the words against word
models stored in its program.  Powerful statistical and
mathematical algorithms analyze the phonetic features of a word to
determine its correct match.

DragonDictate recognizes separately spoken words or phrases.  Each
time you say a word, a box appears on screen with a list of words
that DragonDictate thinks you said, ranked in order of probability. 
If the word you said appears at the top of the list, you simply
continue dictating, giving DragonDictate the go-ahead to enter the
word.  If your desired word appears farther down the list, you
select it by voice or keyboard.

If you say a word, and none of the possibilities on the choice list
match what you said, you just begin spelling by voice using the
programs spell mode, or typing it in.  Once DragonDictate knows how
the word starts, the program tries to recognize it again, usually
getting it right after you say or type one or two letters.  Or, you
can edit a word on the choice list that is closest to the one you
said.

The power behind DragonDictate is its ability to adapt to your
voice, vocabulary, and work environment.  When you first use
DragonDictate, it creates a personal voice file for you that
contains words and pronunciations for both the active vocabulary
and the backup word list.  As you dictate and make recognition
corrections, DragonDictate personalizes your voice file based on
the particular way you speak.

There is much more to DragonDictate but this should give you a good
idea of what it can be used for.  Now, back to the Easter Seals
question of, Will Vocal-Eyes work with DragonDictate?  They were
attempting to accommodate a blind individual who was physically
unable to type.  He could not use the keyboard and could not see
the screen.  We tried the standard Vocal-Eyes and had limited
success.  It required some keystrokes in certain areas and simply
would not speak the relevant information in others.  The only way
to get the two to work together was to modify one of the two
programs.  Although it would have been a dream come true for Dragon
Systems to modify their software, reality was knocking me on the
head.  We decided to create a DragonDictate/VoiceType aware version
of Vocal-Eyes.  This is a special version and must be specifically
asked for when placing an order.  The special version can be made
to work as a standard version but not the other way around.

The special version of Vocal-Eyes constantly looks for
Dragon/VoiceType information to appear on the screen and speaks it
in a meaningful fashion.  For example, as you dictate each word,
the word list pops up on the screen.  Visually, you can look at the
first entry and, if it is correct, you simply dictate the next
word.  With Vocal-Eyes, it will automatically read the first or
highlighted word in the list.  If you like, you can instruct Vocal-
Eyes to spell the word after a predetermined amount of time.  This
comes in handy for homophones such as to  and too.  Therefore, as
you say each word, Vocal-Eyes will read the word DragonDictate
thought you said.  If you pause, the word will be spelled.  If the
word is correct, you simply dictate the next word and so on.  If
the word is not the word you said, you can do one of two things. 
You can manually search the word list to see if the word is there
but not as the first option.  Or, you can start spelling out the
word you really said.  The second approach, although it sounds more
tedious, I recommend.  Because DragonDictate has a backup
dictionary, you usually only have to say the first couple of
letters before the word you said is placed as the first option in
the list.  This is great for me since I am a horrible speller. 
Each time you spell out a new letter Vocal-Eyes will read the new
word if it has changed.  If you want it to, Vocal-Eyes will also
spell the new word giving you the current cursor position within
the word.

With the special version of Vocal-Eyes, the .SET files have been
modified.  For example, the keyboard voice has been turned off. 
You don't want to hear each letter as Dragon sends the word to the
underlying application.  Also, since you can instruct Dragon to
delete characters, we have undefined the backspace key in the
cursoring menu so you don't hear each letter as it is being
deleted.  We have tried to make the Dragon/VoiceType interface as
automatic as possible.

Is the DragonDictate and Vocal-Eyes combination for everyone?  In
my opinion, not at all.  With DragonDictate alone, I have reached
speeds of about forty to fifty words per minute.  If I use
DragonDictate with Vocal-Eyes and do not use the monitor, the best
I have ever done is thirty words per minute.  Most people can
expect to get between ten and twenty words per minute.  If you
previously could not use a computer, ten words per minute seems
infinitely fast.  If however, you can type at speeds exceeding ten
words per minute, dropping down to ten words per minute may not be
acceptable.  DragonDictate is a great choice if you have mobility
problems, have a learning disability, or if you have carpal tunnel
syndrome.  If you also have vision difficulties, adding Vocal-Eyes
with DragonDictate allows for a very unique way of communicating
with your computer system.  If you would like to frustrate your
sighted friends, simply turn off the monitor, push the keyboard
aside, put on a headset, lean back in your chair and dictate away.

--------------------
LEARNING DISABILITIES AND ADAPTED COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
by Jacqueline Robertson and Leah Boyle

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has refocused the
provision of academic support to students with disabilities.  In
light of this legislation, Ball State University has established a
unique configuration of adapted computer technology for students
with learning disabilities.  The net result is improved reading,
writing, speaking, and listening which fosters educational and
employment opportunities.

Serving the needs of students with learning disabilities is
complicated due to the nature of the disorder, incomplete knowledge
about the disorder, and the variety of ways learning disabilities 
can be manifested.  Although definitions and diagnostic procedures
vary widely, it is clear that under the rigors of university
expectations, students with learning disabilities in the academic
area are greatly frustrated and frequently disadvantaged.  Since
ADA has been established, postsecondary institutions must assume
their rightful responsibilities to support students with
disabilities.  Whatever services currently exist within
universities need to be examined.  It is crucial that on a moral,
ethical, and legal basis necessary services be provided.

University students with learning disabilities compensate in many
ways, including making use of tutoring, study groups, and taped
textbooks.  As useful as these approaches can be, however,
improvement in reading and writing does not occur without direct
instruction.  The problem:  how to provide extensive direct
instruction throughout a course of studies.  A solution:  adaptive
computer technology.

Overview of the Program

Through the use of computer adaptations, students can read and
listen to material they have written or scanned themselves.  Since
the material they hear and read is all self-initiated, the students
improve their comprehension, reading rate, and composition skills. 
Students will obtain control over the reading/writing process
because they can regulate the reading speed and adjust it to their
comprehension.  Failure has been minimized and there is no
criticism; consequently, the chances for success, increased
self-esteem, and independence are maximized.

The hardware/software components were combined and interrelated by
Leah Boyle, Coordinator of Adaptive Computer Technology, and was
successfully Beta tested at Ball State University.  Prior to this
program, no individual or institution had put these pieces together
like this.  Other institutions can replicate this program because
it uses commercial software and hardware at a low cost; also,
programmers are not needed.

Components of the Adapted Technology

Vocal-Eyes was developed by GW Micro.  It offers complete access to
information of the computer screen as well as keystrokes as they
are typed.  The moving block cursor highlights each word as it is
spoken.  Information on the screen can be accessed again with
either the cursor keys or with review  mode.  The DEC speech board,
fully compatible with the Vocal-Eyes software, produces the most
human-like speech for its price range.  The Open Book Unbound (OBU)
optical character recognition software will scan printed material
and provide speech output with a moving highlighted cursor.  The
Hewlett-Packard scanner is the preferred hardware to use with the
OBU software.  Word Perfect 6.0 is supported by GW Micro, the
developers of Vocal-Eyes software.  Grammatik is incorporated in
the software as well as the thesaurus and spell checking functions. 
The Franklin Language Master provides auxiliary spell checking and
thesaurus capability when students are utilizing the computer for
work other than word processing.

Success of the Program

The importance of the program can be emphasized through  several
statements.  The current program does:

1. Provide an environment which fosters independent  learning.

2. Provide a cost-effective method for students with a learning
disability to receive direct instruction in the language arts.

3. Provide reading/writing practice in which both visual and
auditory modalities are stimulated.

4. Provide a learning/tutoring setting which does not have the
pressure of past failure.

5. Provide rudimentary computer literacy skills which can transfer
into future educational and employment endeavors.

6. Provide comprehensive computer adaptations which other
institutions, or employers, can replicate at a reasonable cost to
meet the needs of learning disabled individuals.

Although many computer labs are equipped with adaptive technology
for the physically disabled, it is important to take the next step
and provide support for the learning disabled.  Through he
combination of hardware/software, individuals can improve the
skills which are at the heart of educational and employment
opportunities.

Dr. Jacqueline Robertson
Coordinator, Reading and Study Skills
Learning Center
(317) 285-8107

Leah Boyle
Adaptive Computer
Technology Coordinator
University Computing Services
(317) 285-2286

Ball State University
Muncie, Indiana  47306

--------------------
Hints for New Users

This regular column is intended to help users who are new to the
products discussed or to computers in general or who simply feel
they need more help than the manuals they have read have provided.

Do you use Procomm Plus or Telix for telecommunications?  Maybe you
have a problem with getting text from a BBS or other utility to be
read by Vocal-Eyes without having to hit a hot key or use some
hyperactive window scheme.  Both of these programs have commands to
solve the problem.

If you use Procomm Plus 2.01, you'll find it on the set-up menu
(ALT- S).  On this menu you'll find an option called DISPLAY/SOUND
OPTIONS.  In older versions of PC Plus its phrased differently, but
you'll recognize it.  Press enter on this option and you'll get a
list of options which can be selected by pressing a letter between
A and K (or some other range if you're using an older version). 
Select the option SNOW REMOVAL,  which is choice E if you're using
version 2.01.  Use the space bar to toggle between YES and NO. 
Press ENTER when you have it on YES.  Use the ESCAPE key to go back
to the Set Up menu and select SAVE SETUP OPTIONS  to make your
change permanent.

In addition to the above change, I created a simple set file called
PCPLUS.SET.  I turned autobox read on, light bar track to auto, set
window zero to lines one through twenty-four and window one to line
twenty-five only.  That's it.

If you're using Telix, your changes will be similar to the ones
described above.  Go into the ALT-O, Configure Telix,  menu and
select Screen and Color.  You'll be presented with another menu
from which you'll select Screen write mode.  Telix will give you
three choices and a brief explanation of them.  Choose 2.  You can
also choose 3 if you like, but if you do everything will talk.  The
main place you'll find that to be a problem is in the menus. 
Whichever you choose, be sure to return to the Configure Telix 
menu and save your settings.

Telix also has a -b parameter which will give the same effect as
the third choice on the menu described above.  The syntax would be

TELIX -B

Create a TELIX.SET file identical  to PCPLUS.SET, and the job is
done.

--------------------
General Hints

Are you using DOS 6.0?  Do you need to have ANSI.SYS in your
CONFIG.SYS?  Don't worry if you don't know what that means.  There
was a funny little problem with DOS 5.0 that continued with DOS
6.0.  At the DOS prompt, when you get to line twenty-five of the
screen, instead of hearing something like C:\>  as your DOS prompt,
you hear C C C:\>.  This repeating C is annoying.

Now there is a simple fix.  Edit your CONFIG.SYS.  You'll find a
line that says something like

DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS

Simply edit it to say

DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS /R

and reboot your computer.  Press ENTER at the DOS prompt until you
get to line twenty-five and you'll discover that your repeating C
is gone!  Thanks to Microsoft for this fix.

Are you a Norton Utilities user?  Did you see the hint in the July
1993 issue of VV that told you to add

/USEINT16

to the Norton command line?  You'll be glad to know that this
parameter is not necessary for Norton 8.0.

--------------------
Announcements

Will you be attending any of the big conventions this summer?  If
so, please be sure to look us up while you're there.  Dan and Mike
will be at the ACB convention in Detroit while Doug and Crista are
in Chicago.  In mid-July, Crista will be at the AER conference in
Dallas and Dan will be at the AHEAD conference at the end of July.

In the January issue of VV, the article on memory management
mentioned that the QEMM, Manifest, and Desqview manuals were
available from Recording for the Blind in BookManager format.  The
manuals are available from RFB, but are in ASCII format rather than
in BookManager format.  Several manuals for previous versions of
Quarterdeck software are also available from RFB.

The WordPerfect 6.0 manuals are now available from RFB.  they are
in ASCII format and the catalog number is EP097B.

We now have a driver for the Keynote synthesizers.  This new driver
works with the external Keynote Gold and with the new PCMCIA
synthesizer for use with notebook computers.  We are working on
compatibility with the internal desktop card, but this card can
still be used with the Accent emulation feature it already has. 
The new driver can be downloaded from our BBS at (219) 484-0210.

Many, many new SET files for use with Vocal-Eyes have been created
in the last year.  Previous issues of VV have listed them as
they've become available, but some of the popular applications for
which they've been written include Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word,
West Law, LetterPerfect, BookManager, Quicken, Professional Write,
WordPerfect Works, the Random House Electronic Dictionary and
Thesaurus, the Word Star American Heritage Dictionary, and Handy
Works.  Many of these come automatically with Vocal-Eyes, but all
are available from the BBS.  You can download all of them at once
or select only the ones you need.

Many people have called us looking for notebook computers which
don't require a PCMCIA or external synthesizer.  We have a few
Toshiba T-4400's and T-1850's which are available now.  These have
Sounding Boards built into them.  Call for details and prices.

In the April issue we announced a special price for the Franklin
Language Master.  Since so many people responded to the special
price, it will be extended through September first.  For this time,
the price will be $445.00.  This is a $50.00 savings off of the
normal price of $495.00.

Are you contemplating buying a Pentium machine?  Are you concerned
that your access equipment might not work?  The Sounding Board has
been tested in Pentium machines and has been found to work fine. 
Of course, Vocal-Eyes does not care at all what processor you're
using.  If you're using a synthesizer by another manufacturer,
contact them to find out whether their equipment is compatible with
these new, faster machines. Incidentally, GW Micro offers CompuAdd
80486 and Pentium computers.

Many people have asked us about CD-ROMs that are accessible.  Noel
Runyan at Personal Data Systems, (408) 866-1126, has written Vocal-
Eyes SET files for a number of popular titles and is making both
the software and the set files available.  Here are some prices and
short descriptions:

Countries of the World, $195.  This disk contains the full text of
106 Country Series Handbooks prepared by the US Army.  Each
handbook is 200 to 500 pages long in inkprint.

Groliers Encyclopedia, $195.  The full Groliers Encyclopedia on
disk includes sounds, pictures, and movie clips.  PDS has a braille
reference guide to using Groliers.

Library of the Future Second Edition, $145.  The complete text of
more than 950 titles.

Monarch Notes, $95.  Every word of the complete set of Monarch
Study Guides, pictures, and voice-overs.

Time Almanac, $95.  Over 5000 articles from Time Magazine plus the
full text of the year.

US History, $195.  The full text of 107 history books.

Subscription Information

Voice of Vision is published four times a year in large print, on audio
cassette, on 5.25- or 3.5-inch PC diskette, and in Braille.  You can receive
a subscription for $10.00 for each format.  VV is also available on GW
Micro's bulletin board at no charge.  Payment can be made by check,
MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover.  Send checks and
format specifications to the address below.

We seek reader input.  If we use an article you've submitted, you'll
receive a years subscription at no charge.

Please send articles on IBM compatible diskette or in print to:

GW Micro, Inc.
310 Racquet Dr.
Fort Wayne, IN  46825

or upload them to our bulletin board at (219) 484-0210.  Articles may be
edited for brevity and clarity.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at (219)
483-3625.
