This video podcast features Winston Chen, the author of our favorite app for readers with dyslexia. This is the first of Dr. Erica Warren's free video podcast for Go Dyslexia! Winston founded Voice Dream while on sabbatical on an island north of the Arctic Circle and his flagship product Voice Dream Reader is an amazing assistive technology device that provides text-to-voice for pdfs, audiobooks and more. This top-selling iOS app has a recent, free, comprehensive update with some new extraordinary features. Come learn about this creation and view a demonstration of this amazing tool that is changing accessibility of the written word for individuals with dyslexia around the globe.
Mentioned Resource Links:
- Voice Dream Reader: http://www.voicedream.com/reader/
- Voice Dream Writer: http://www.voicedream.com/writer/
- Abbyy Fine Reader: http://www.abbyy.com/finereader/
- Scanner Pro 7: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scanner-pro-7-document-receipt/id333710667?mt=8
- Cam Scanner: https://www.camscanner.com/user/download
- Snap to PDF: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snap2pdf-scan-documents-share/id472940721?mt=8
- Prizmo: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prizmo-scanning-ocr-speech/id366791896?mt=8
- Apprentice Alf: http://www.epubor.com/apprentice-alf-drm-removal-tools.html
Best New Features:
- Pac-man reading mode: The latest research at MIT and Harvard shows that everyone can double their reading speed with no loss of comprehension. The new technique combines audio, visual, and attention propulsion. The words disappear from the page a fraction of a second before they're spoken by text-to-speech. This forces the reader to visually scan ahead. With practice, the results can be amazing.
- Finger reading: Some readers struggle to follow even the slowest speed, which also becomes distorted. With finger reading, the reader drags a finger under the text to hear each word.
- Quickly browse the text: On an iPhone 6s or 6s plus, you can press firmly on the fast forward button while the app is reading -- Force Touch -- to double the reading speed. Release it slightly to return to normal speed.
What’s New in 4.0.0 release of Voice Dream Reader?
- A beautiful new user interface
- Grid view and cover images in the library.
- Improved library organization: filters, flags, and sort order.
- Visual appearance of the entire app uses the current color theme.
- Experimental rich text and image support for all documents.
Library Synchronization:
Your entire library, including folders, reading locations, bookmarks and annotations are synchronized across all your devices using iCloud Drive.
New Reading Modes:
- Finger reading allows beginning reads to control the speed by running a finger under each word.
- Pac-Man mode. Harvard and MIT developed speed-reading method for everyone to read at 2x speed with no loss of comprehension.
- Sentence mode. Speech pauses at every sentence. Useful for beginning readers.
- Repeat mode.
- Option to rewind to beginning of the last sentence when you pause.
New Voices:
- Alex, free, high-quality voice in iOS 9.
- New premium child voices from Acapela in US, UK, Australian English, US Spanish, and German.
- Acapela's new flagship German voice: Claudia.
- Emotive variations of Jeroen, Antoine, Margaux, Dimitris and Will.
Other New Features:
- Set PDF margins to exclude text in header and footer.
- Up to 4X speed for recorded audio.
- Support for 3D Touch, split-screen multitasking, and Spotlight search.
- Safari extension to save Web pages and Web addresses.
- Evernote file attachments.
- Background download for files and voices.
- More accurate language detection.
- Option to hide header and footer in full-screen mode.