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Accoona Issues The First ’Talking Search Bar’

Accoona Corp. has launched text-to-speech technology that will enable online users to highlight English-language text on the Internet to be read aloud in English. The Talking Search Bar technology is the first such application tied directly to an Internet search engine.

Accoona designed the feature for global Internet users who want to learn and pronounce English or enhance their English-language skills as a second language. The application also can used by U.S. and U.K. pre-schoolers, elementary-school students and others first learning to read English, such as English as a second language or adult literacy students.

The China Daily Information Company has separately launched the technology for Chinese Internet users through its exclusive partnership with Accoona.

Accoona's Talking Search Bar provides a human-quality, natural voice, combining search technology with an easy-to-use text-to-speech feature. The technology can convert any Web page text into speech. Users simply select the content they want to read – from headlines and news articles to weather reports and stock quotes – and the Talking Search Bar's text-to-speech technology will transform it. The Talking Search Bar's voice is as smooth and natural sounding as the human voice. After installing the Talking Search Bar, users choose between a male or female voice that will read highlighted text, complete with proper inflection points.

The benefits of the technology include extending English-language learning skills to a global audience, providing hands-free information from favorite Web sites and enabling "proofreading" of personally created Web pages. Kauder also noted the Talking Search Bar's simplicity as there is no need to copy and paste text into a separate window.



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