/ 
Speech-Speakup-1.00
/ Speech::Speakup

NAME

Speech::Speakup - a module to interface with the Speakup screen-reader

SYNOPSIS

use Speech::Speakup;
my @speakup_parameters = Speech::Speakup::speakup_get();
my @synth_parameters   = Speech::Speakup::synth_get();
print "speakup_parameters are @speakup_parameters\n";
print "synth_parameters   are @synth_parameters\n";
Speech::Speakup::speakup_set('silent', 7);  # impose silence
Speech::Speakup::speakup_set('silent', 4);  # restore speech
Speech::Speakup::synth_set('punct', 2);  # change the punctuation-level

DESCRIPTION

Speakup is a screen-reader that runs on Linux as a module within the kernel. A screen-reader allows blind or visually-impaired people to hear text as it appears on the screen, and to review text already displayed anywhere on the screen. Speakup will only run on the linux consoles, but is powerful and ergonomic, and runs during the boot process. The other important screen-reader is yasr, which runs in user-space and is very portable, but has less features.

There are parameters you can get and set at the screen-reader level by using the routines speakup_get and speakup_set.

One of those parameters is the particular voice synthesiser engine that speakup will use; this synthesiser has its own parameters, parameters that speakup will use when invoking it, and which you can get and set by using the routines synth_get and synth_set.

The synthesiser can be a hardware device, on a serial line or USB, or it can be software. The most common software synth for Linux is espeak, and flite is also important.

This is Speech::Speakup version 1.00

SUBROUTINES

All these routines set the variable $Speech::Speakup::Message to an appropriate error message if they fail.

speakup_get() or speakup_get($param);

When called without arguments, speakup_get returns a list of the readable speakup parameters.

When called with one of those parameters as an argument, speakup_get returns the current value of that parameter, or undef if the get fails.

speakup_set() or speakup_set($param, $value);

When called without arguments, speakup_set returns a list of the writeable speakup parameters.

When called with $parameter,$value as arguments, speakup_set sets the value of that parameter. It returns success or failure.

synth_get() or synth_get($param);

When called without arguments, synth_get returns a list of the readable synthesiser parameters.

When called with one of those parameters as an argument, synth_get returns the current value of that parameter, or undef if the get fails.

synth_set() or synth_set($param, $value);

When called without arguments, synth_set returns a list of the writeable synthesiser parameters.

When called with $parameter,$value as arguments, synth_set sets the value of that parameter. It returns success or failure.

PARAMETERS

Most speakup parameters are 0 to 10, default 5. The important silent parameter is a bitmap, but its bits are not well documented; it is known that 7 means silent and 4 restores speech. The synth parameter is a string, which must exist as a subdirectory of the speakup parameter directory.

EXPORT_OK SUBROUTINES

No routines are exported by default, but they are exported under the ALL tag, so if you want to import all these you should:

import Speech::Speakup qw(:ALL);

DEPENDENCIES

It requires Exporter, which is core Perl.

AUTHOR

Peter J Billam www.pjb.com.au/comp/contact.html

SEE ALSO

http://linux-speakup.org
http://linux-speakup.org/spkguide.txt
http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
http://people.debian.org/~sthibault/espeakup
aptitude install espeakup speakup-tools
aptitude install flite eflite
http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Speech::Speakup
/sys/accessibility/speakup/ or /proc/speakup/

http://espeak.sourceforge.net
aptitude install espeak
perldoc Speech::eSpeak
http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Speech::eSpeak
http://linux-speakup.org/distros.html
http://the-brannons.com/tarch/
http://www.pjb.com.au/
espeakup(1)
emacspeak(1)
espeak(1)
perl(1)

There should soon be an equivalent Python3 module with the same calling interface, at http://cpansearch.perl.org/src/PJB/Speech-Speakup-1.00/py/SpeechSpeakup.py