[Wikipedia-l] Text to voice programs

[Merritt L. Perkins]

I don't know what operating system other people have on their computers.
I am using Microsoft XP home edition. It has a text to voice program with
a voice called Microsoft Sam that can have the speed and volume adjusted.
It is intended to be used to check your work for mistakes after you run a
spell check. In this way you can catch mistakes that you have overlooked
while reading the text.
. The voice on Dragon’s NaturallySpeaking 7 is Jennifer and the speed,
pitch, and volume can be adjusted
I have a huge 21 in. monitor and still find text a little hard to read.
If a person is totally blind he would not be able to use a computer
because he could not tell he is doing. If his eyesight is somewhat
impaired it can be a big help. 
I know the program is on my computer but I don't know how to use it.
There must be instructions someplace but I don't know where. Probably
most operating systems have such a program and have had for years
. If you want a program to read Encyclopedia articles or e-mails you
probably already have the program on your computer, just learn how to use
it.
As far as reading German is concerned it should be much easier than
English.
Having Encyclopedia articles read by a human voice would make the files
so large that it would be impractical. They would be many times the size
of the printed text. How many people remember when a monitor screen was
divided into to 30 rows and 80 columns of cells and a cell would hold one
character. Characters were perhaps 5 wide by 9 high and defined by an
ASCII number. Now word processing programs are much more complicated.
Merritt L. Perkins