text-to-speech

April 08, 2013— The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) released a Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) (FCC 13-45) related to the accessibility of emergency information provided in video programming. The Report and Order requires that emergency information communicated via video programming is accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. This includes the requirement of an aural presentation of the emergency information on a secondary audio stream that must be conveyed at least twice in full.

December 6, 2012 — Amazon announced that early next year the accessibility features, “Voice Guide” and “Explore by Touch,” will be introduced to the standard definition Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD 7. The Voice Guide provides text-to-speech capabilities and reads aloud any action performed by the individual using the Kindle device. Also helpful to individuals with vision loss is Explore by Touch, which announces what item an individual touches, for example the title of a book, and if the item is tapped twice, it results in the default action (i.e. the book would open).

04.09.12 – The FCC’s Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) issued a Report concerning Video Description and the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.  The report describes the chain of distribution of video descriptions including the production of video descriptions by and distribution to consumers highlighting that the rights to create video description must first be obtained befor