Emacspeak - a speech interface

Abstract

The design of a speech-enabling approach is described which has been implemented in Emacspeak to overcome many of the shortcomings encountered with traditional screen-readers, i.e., computer software that enable a visually impaired user to read the contents of a visual display. Unlike the traditional approach, Emacspeak does not speak the screen. Instead, applications provide both visual and speech feedback, and the speech feedback is designed to be sufficient by itself. This approach reduces cognitive load on the user and is relevant to providing general spoken access to information.