IBM products for persons with disabilities

A description is given of the IBM Screen Reader, a PC DOS access system for the blind. It consists of a keypad, terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) software, and a profile application language (PAL) compiler for adaptation to applications. It speaks to a blind user through a text-to-speech synthesizer, focused by the keypad keys. The IBM Speech Viewer, a speech training workstation for the hearing- or speech-impaired, is described. The speech signal is digitized and analyzed by a special IBM Personal System/2 adapter that extracts voice features such as pitch, intensity, and spectrum. These drive the PS/2 display to provide real-time visual feedback on speech utterances. Both products have been the object of extensive pilot testing.<
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