Computer voice now available with Scottish accent

From The Times Education Supplement in the UK:

With the excitement of the exam season over, candidates in the future will be able to take advantage of another “first” in Scottish education – a new computer “voice” which is being made available free to schools and pupils. It follows the development of digital papers for exam candidates with visual impairment or dyslexia, who would otherwise have to rely on readers or scribes.

Like the new voice, known as “Heather”, this is a product of the groundbreaking work undertaken by the Communication Access Literacy and Learning (CALL) centre at Moray House School of Education. When he introduced Heather to the nation in parliament in early May, Adam Ingram, the Minister for Children and the Early Years, could not resist pointing out that the SNP Government had funded the CALL centre project enabling pupils to listen to digital curriculum materials “spoken out in a Scottish voice”.

Paul Nisbet, senior research fellow at CALL, said: “We are delighted that Heather will now be available free for all pupils in Scotland. Most Windows and Apple computers already have one or two computer voices installed on them, but the voices are quite robotic and usually have an American accent.

“Better computer voices are supplied with some commercial text-to-speech programs, but they usually have very English accents and, of course, schools and
parents have to pay for them.

“The new Scottish voice sounds great and is free. It means that pupils can listen to, for example, Scottish digital exams being read out in a Scottish voice. As far as we know, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is the first exam board to offer digital exams for pupils with additional support needs and, with the launch of Heather, I believe we have another ‘first’.”