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Re: Feeding audio signals into phone lines



The big trackball was a Microsoft EasyBall.

 Dave Houston wrote:
> Way back in Windows 3.1 days I wrote some software that used the
> text-to-speech software that came bundled with the 16-bit SoundBlaster
> soundcards as well as another low cost ($25 per licensee) commercial
> text-to-speech package which had excellent voice quality. The
> software was intended for people like you with speech problems. The
> users were a mix of those with CP, ALS and other maladies that caused
> speech problems.
>
> Initially, I wrote it to use a direct connection to an internal
> speakerphone modem because the sound was very clean that way but I
> got feedback from several users that they preferred to use it with an
> external speakerphone modem in front of a PC speaker because that
> sounded more natural with the normal background sounds. Creative
> stopped bundling their TTS software and the other company got gobbled
> up by Lernout & Hausbie and disappeared along with them.
>
>     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernout_&_Hauspie
>
> My software included home automation functions and sold for $180,
> including the TTS license, but is no longer available.
>
> There are numerous speakerphone modems available but I don't know how
> many of them have DOS drivers. These days most of the external ones
> have USB connections and expect Windows.
>
> If you can find a speakerphone modem with a serial interface and DOS
> drivers, it is, by far, the easiest way to accomplish what you need.
>
> You probably already know that the commercial companies selling this
> type of equipment have exhorbitant prices (despite being subsidized
> by the government).
>
> I won't do the searching for you but, if you find some speakerphone
> modems, I'll look at them to see whether they will work for you.
>
> BTW, I'm not sure anything like it is still available but one young
> man with CP who used my software had a very large (baseball sized)
> trackball that he used for a mouse in Windows.
>
> Bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bill Geluso) wrote:
>
>> I don't know if this is the proper newsgroup in which to post this
>> question.  If it isn't, would you please advise me of a more
>> appropriate newsgroup.
>>
>> Anyway, my question is:  What is the simplest (and least expensive)
>> way to feed an audio signal into a telephone line?
>>
>> My specific application is as follows:  My speech is next to
>> impossible to understand due to cerebral palsy.  Therefore, I often
>> use a speech synthesizer to communicate with people, including
>> people over the phone.  Currently, to "speak" over the phone, I
>> depend on the microphone in a conference phone to pick-up the sound
>> waves coming from the speaker in my speech synthesizer.  While this
>> configuration works, the quality of the sound that gets transmitted
>> over the phone line is less than satisfactory.  This is why I am
>> seeking a direct way to input an audio signal into a phone line.
>>
>> When making suggestions on how to accomplish what I want, please
>> keep in mind that I don't use a Windows computer with a sound card.
>> I still use a DOS computer, mostly because I can't/don't like using
>> a mouse.
>>
>> I have a question about one possible solution to my problem:  My DOS
>> computer has an internal modem that has an on-board speaker, which I
>> can use to hear the audio output from the phone line very clearly.
>> Is there an internal modem that has some sort of input jacks?
>>
>> I look forward to your answers and suggestions.
>>
>> Bill Geluso




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