In 1985, I, the editor of "the Smith-Kettlewell Technical File", put out a trial balloon by sending the talking-book readers a sample article read by the DECTalk synthesizer.
The feedback was, at best, of tollerance; "If it meant that I could have more material available, I suppose I would tollerate that synthetic speech, although I would never prefer it."
>From this editor's point of view (of course, given technical information to grapple with), it took as much work to massage the file as it did to get the article read by a volunteer, then editing it on quarter-inch magnetic tape.
I gave up when, after all my massaging, the damned DECTalk read a phrase "at which point, the FET turns on the transmitter," and emphasized "turns on the transmitter" as if to devour it piece by piece. True, the actual meaning of the sentence was not
damaged. However, that emphasis made me laugh so hard that I missed the rest of the article.
I would say: give me text in electronic form, and I will read it with synthesized speech. If you're offering me a tape recording, get a volunteer reader.
Bill Gerrey
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