On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 2:58 AM, Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com wrote:
[...] The first lesson learned is that blind (or almost blind) people use always a software of speech synthesis with a speed that makes the audio almost unintelligible for not experienced people. The operating system provides several tools for that including mobile OS.
The second lesson is that this software of speech synthesis is crucial for them and they would set and control it. So forget the normal speed of audio that everyone of us is experienced to use.
I asked if anyone could point me to examples of "how fast do screenreaders actually read", a few months ago.[1] The best examples I could find at the time, are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izrC4R7SsH4#t=1561s and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92pM6hJG6Wo
Searching a few days ago, I learned that the average speed that experienced users generally use is 250-400 wpm, and that the default settings are around 180wpm. (Note: Users seem to typically talk about the speed they use in terms of x% of maximum, rather than wpm, e.g. "I've got 63% with rate boost, and rising. I used to think 75% with JAWS was fast, but not anymore. I'm just turning it 1% faster every couple days, and I'm doing it because I can." [2])
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute#Speech_and_listening says English language audio books are generally at 140-160 wpm.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Accessibility/A... [2] http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?id=10649
No one knew that I am from a Wikimedia chapter except the organizers and I
did several questions about Wikipedia because (I did not know it) it was presented as "good" example of website for speech synthesis.
I believe this is partially through the long-term efforts of: our developers who have an understanding of accessibility issues, and our few blind editors and many sight-impaired editors who give regular feedback and bugreports.[3] Immense kudos to all of them.
[3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/accessibility/
(Sidenote: I compiled a list of all the related pages I could find, at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Accessibility_and_usability_cleanup Anyone's additions to that listing, or notes/improvements/merge-efforts at the linked pages over the longterm, would be greatly appreciated. :)
Quiddity