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Speech Software for Mobile phones

Mobile software developer Babel Technologies and Spanish company Owasys have announced a new mobile phone for people who are blind or visually impaired.

The owasys22c operates on an embedded text-to-speech (TTS) solution called PocketBabil from the speech software company Babel Technologies, which says the tool can read the names of incoming callers and read text messages out loud. Menus are also read aloud and can be chosen by using the keypad.

The technology on which PocketBabil is based is available in 18 languages. Babel claims that it can "produce any utterance in a given speech or language" with a relatively small hardware requirements in terms of memory.

PocketBabil is similar to the TALKS solution Nokia uses in its Communicator 9290 range. In fact, Fontaine said that Babel is negotiating with Nokia with a view to providing its speech technology to the mobile giant. With the Nokia Communicator 9290, it is possible to attach a portable Braille display to the phone; the device retailed at a little over USD500 when it was first launched in 2002.

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