About Proloquo

Proloquo is a multi-purpose, 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^® on-screen keyboard and our SwitchXS^® switch access solution.

Proloquo includes natural-sounding Infovox iVox voices for a language of choice. The languages currently available are American English, British English, American Spanish, Canadian French, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish. Infovox iVox provides 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.

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 Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Panther) and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)

Proloquo can be used to create a complete personalized Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system using simple drag and drop (or copy and paste) of phrases into lists organized by topic. Proloquo can also be combined with LayoutKitchen^®. 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 key-features

1. Full-fledged communication system (AAC) for people who cannot speak
   
   
• Type text into Proloquo and let it speak (parts of) that text.
  
  
• Use drag and drop (or copy and paste) to create sets of custom words and phrases that are spoken with a simple mouse click or keystroke.
  
  
• Create textual speech panels for commonly used words and phrases.
  
  
• Optional: Use custom speech panels created with LayoutKitchen (purchase separatly) which have colorable and resizable buttons containing text and/or images in a variety of formats.
  
  
• Optional: Use with custom image-based speech panels created with LayoutKitchen (purchase separatly) using over 8000 resizable, industry-standard Picture Communication Symbols™ from Mayer-Johnson (purchase separatly).
  
  
2. Improved accessibility of Mac OS X for people with visual impairments
   
   
• Speaks text and other keystrokes typed in any application.
  
  
• Speaks screen objects such as buttons, menus, text below the cursor in most applications.
  
  
• Provides very large icons and resizable toolbars.
  
  
• Allows the selection of different voices for communication and for the talking interface.
  
  
3. Speech feedback in any application while typing for children and people with learning disabilities
   
   
• Speaks text and other keystrokes typed in any application.
  
  
• Allows for customization of the pronounciation of individual letters, symbols and keys to give full control to speech language pathologists.
  
  
4. Serves as a talking word processor
   
   
• Includes a basic text editor that can speak as the user types, but can also speak individual words, sentences and paragraphs.
  
  
• On Mac OS X Tiger, automatically synchronizes typed text and speech functions in applications such as TextEdit and Nisus Writer Express (that support Apple's Acessibility API) as the user moves from window to window effectively turning these two applications into talking word processors.
  
  
• Allows the user to enter pronunciation exceptions.
  
  
5. Provides text to speech for people who prefer listening to reading
   
   
• Speaks selected text in any application using a button or keyboard shortcut.
  
  
• Speaks text pointed at by the cursor (optionally requiring a modifier key to be held down) in many applications.
  
  
• Can briefly pause between sentences for easier understanding of spoken text.
  
  
• Converts text to audio files and to iPod-ready iTunes tracks.
  
  
6. Can be used as a tool to learn the pronunciation of foreign languages
   
   
• Comes with high quality Infovox iVox voices in a language of choice.
  
  
• Additional high quality Infovox iVox language packs are available for separate purchase.
  
  
• Use it to speak foreign language web sites or the text of your language classes.
  
  
7. Provides an advanced, multilingual speech engine for KeyStrokes and SwitchXS
   
   
• Adds the capability to speak with high quality voices in various languages to the built-in speech features of KeyStrokes and SwitchXS.
  
  
• Provides control over speech rate, pitch and exceptions.
  
  
• Allows the selection of different voices for communication, for the talking interface and for speech cues.
  
  

Requirements for Proloquo

Proloquo requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher, but Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is recommended.

Requires a minimal screen resolutions of 800 x 600 pixels.

Reviews of Proloquo

On version 1.0

Robert Pritchett in the September 2005 issue of macCompanion: "Proloquo enables those with the inability to speak, to speak through Mac OS X." (read the full review online)