PR: AssistiveWare announces Proloquo(R), a groundbreaking speech solution
for Mac OS X
Amsterdam – 25 July 2005 – AssistiveWare today announced the release of
Proloquo(R) 1.0, LayoutKitchen(R) 1.0.3, and PCS for LayoutKitchen.
Proloquo is a groundbreaking multi-purpose and multilingual speech solution
for Mac OS X that provides: (1) a full-fledged communication system (AAC)
for people who cannot speak; (2) improves accessibility of Mac OS X for
people with visual impairments; (3) provides speech feedback in any
application while typing for children and people with learning
disabilities; (4) can serve as a talking word processor; (5) provides text
to speech for people who prefer listening to reading; (6) can be used as a
tool to learn the pronunciation of foreign languages; (7) provides an
advanced, multilingual speech engine for our KeyStrokes(R) on-screen
keyboard and our SwitchXS(R) switch access solution.
“Proloquo provides the first full-fledged speech solution for Mac OS X,”
said David Niemeijer, AssistiveWare’s CTO. “It combines the highest quality
voices available on the market with powerful, yet easy to use features that
serve a wide variety of needs.”
Proloquo’s suggested retail price is US$ 299 or Euro 249 (excl. VAT),
including High Quality and/or High Density Acapela voices for a language of
choice. The languages currently include US English, UK English, German,
Dutch, Flemish, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian,
Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese. Acapela voices for additional languages
can be purchased as a language pack for US$ 119 or Euro 99 (excl. VAT). In
addition, to offer users even more choice, registered Proloquo users can
contact us for a discount coupon to purchase Cepstral voices that work not
only in Proloquo but system-wide. Finally, Proloquo of course works with
all the built-in voices of Mac OS X.
“Acapela Group is very proud to voice enable the new high end Proloquo
speech solution and to contribute with AssistiveWare to improve
Accessibility for everyone, delivering inclusive technologies and making
daily life easier for thousands of people in the world, in the most natural
way” said Antoine Kauffeisen, Marketing Director of Acapela Group.
Proloquo is different from Apple’s excellent VoiceOver technology for Mac
OS X Tiger in several ways. VoiceOver is a screen reader primarily intended
for people who are blind. Proloquo, instead, is a multi-purpose speech
solution that also includes certain features geared towards people with
limited vision (such as the ability to speak what is below the cursor and
to echo what the user types). Additionally, Proloquo works with high
quality voices in multiple languages and works on both Panther and Tiger.
Proloquo can be used to create a complete personalized
Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) system using simple drag and
drop of phrases into lists organized by topic. Proloquo can also be
combined with LayoutKitchen (suggested retail price of US$ 119 or Euro 99
excl. VAT). With LayoutKitchen users can design their own speech panels for
Proloquo with colorable and resizable buttons containing text and/or images
in a variety of formats.
“Proloquo provides the kind of augmentative communication I always hoped
for,” said Walter Pfrommer, medical adviser in a healthcare IT project.
“Now, for the first time after I lost my own voice due to ALS/MND, even new
acquaintances and older persons understand me with ease. Without Proloquo
for speech and KeyStrokes for typing I would no longer be able to work!”
PCS for LayoutKitchen contains a collection of over 8000 Picture
Communication Symbols(TM) licensed from Mayer-Johnson that can be used with
LayoutKitchen to design speech panels for Proloquo as well as scanning
panels for SwitchXS. It is available for a suggested retail price of
US$/Euro 199 (excl. VAT).
Proloquo is available in English, French, and German, but works fine with
most other languages. Proloquo requires Mac OS X 10.3 or higher, while Mac
OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is recommended. For more information, a fully-functional
downloadable demo (that works with the built-in Mac OS X voices) and to
listen to samples of the voices please consult the product page at
http://www.assistiveware.com/proloquo.php
Proloquo is available for immediate download. CDs with Proloquo plus
Acapela voices and CDs with PCS for LayoutKitchen will be available for
shipping by mid August.
AssistiveWare (http://www.assistiveware.com/) is the worldwide leader in
innovative assistive technology software for Mac OS X that gives people
back their lives. This includes award-winning KeyStrokes(R) and
TouchStrokes(R) virtual keyboards, SwitchXS(R) scanning on-screen keyboard,
LayoutKitchen(R) panel editor, and Proloquo(R) multi-purpose speech
solution.