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How to use the new "Stuart" voice with PDFaloud

By Paul Nisbet on Wednesday 28th September, 2011 at 5:45pm

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The new Scottish male computer voice is now available for download from CALL's web site. 'Stuart' works with most text-to-speech programs including for example ClaroRead, Co:Writer, PDFaloud, Penfriend, Read and Write Gold and WordTalk.

However, if you install Stuart on your computer, you won't see it in the list of voices offered by PDFaloud. This is because PDFaloud offers you voices from a list of 'safe voices' that have been tested with PDFaloud. This doesn't necessarily mean another voice won't work - it may just mean that Texthelp haven't tested it. Since Stuart is brand new, he isn't in the safe voices list and so you won't see him.

You can add Stuart to the safe voices list by opening the 'safevoices.ini' file that is usually to be found in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\plug_ins\Texthelp, adding the voice, and then saving the file again.

Step 1: Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\plug_ins\Texthelp and double click on "safevoice.ini" so that it opens in Notepad.

Step 2: Scroll down to the bottom of the list and type in "CereVoice Stuart - English (Scotland)". Make sure the name of the voice that you type in is exactly as it appears in the Speech tab of the Windows Control Panel.

Step 3: Save the file.

Step 4: Restart Adobe Reader and Stuart should now be in the PDFaloud list of voices.

Step 5: Enjoy reading your digital papers with a bloke's voice ;).

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#1. David Liddell - Wednesday 5th October, 2011 at 10:26pm

Paul,
Big fan of the Stuart voice (not just because his 'real' mum works in our office) and I'm sure your guide to getting PDF Aloud to grant him 'safe' status is fine for stand alones, but in South Lanarkshire we are talking about a managed system - we are talking RM - and you can't know how my heart sank when I read your blog. Next Christmas would be optimistic for us to get it sorted. Can't you get Texthelp to test the voice ASAP? It would be a lot quicker!

David Liddell

#2. Paul Nisbet - Thursday 6th October, 2011 at 10:25am

Hi David
Thanks for your comment. The voice is fine so there's no need for texthelp to test it - we need a quick way to add it to the safevocies.ini file and then get the file installed on all computers. I'll ask TextHelp but because they're stopping selling it I'm not confident they'll be helpful.

However, Robert here in CALL has been looking at a script to update the PDFaloud pron.ini file (the pronunciation dictionary) and it may be possible to have a script to update the safevoices.ini file too. I'll ask Robert and get back to you.

Paul

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