Aithihyamala for visually-challenged

Teksonia

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The string of myths loaded with the most engaging tales and legends about thieves, tuskers and tantriks will s..

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The string of myths loaded with the most engaging tales and legends about thieves, tuskers and tantriks will soon spread its charm to the visuallychallenged community in the state.
'Aithihyamala', compiled by Kottarathil Sankunni, will be converted into audio format using the advanced version of 'Swaram', the Text to Speech[TTS] software developed by 'Insight'. The project is being done to popularise 'Swaram', which is the latest Malayalam screen reading software launched by Insight for the blind."The advantages of 'Swaram' software are still unknown to majority of the blind community. That is why we have decided to convert 'Aithihyamala' using 'Swaram'. Stories are the easiest way to familiarise people with new innovations and 'Aithihyamala' seemed to be the best choice," says James P Mathew, Project Coordinator, Insight.

The first step will be to collect all the stories included in 'Aithihyamala' from wikimedia and from other sources.

The conversion of 'Aithihyamala' into audio format using TTS also minimises the expense and timeconsumption that could result from a normal recording using human voice. In the new audio format, the speech and related modulations will be directly controlled by the computer. James P Mathew says that although the new format will not sound similar to a human voice, the entire project makes up for time and effort.

'Insight' will also bring out recorded versions of famous works in Malayalam children's literature for the blind children in the near future. The recorded version will be brought out in the most accessible formats and will be distributed across the blind schools in the state.