Windows Light (Read Assist) with Speech Output in Chinese and English for Persons with Dyslexia

Windows Light (Read Assist) with Speech Output in Chinese and English for persons with Dyslexia

 

This edition of Windows Light (Read assist) is a screen reading software developed as an assistive aid to help people facing challenges in reading and writing (notably those with dyslexia).  It works by retrieving text displayed on the computer screen and reproducing it in synthesised speech.  With the PC mouse, the user can get his/her target text in Microsoft Word and other text editors read out.  In addition, it also provides a “global screen reading” functionality which enables the user to operate with the mouse to get textual contents in other windows applications read out.

 

Languages Supported

 

This edition of the software provides speech output in three languages, namely Cantonese, Putonghua (also known as Mandarin) and English.

 

Platforms and Applications Supported

 

This edition of Windows Light (Read Assist) supports screen access in Windows XP onwards up to  Windows 10 (both 32-bit and 64-bit). It also supports text reading with mouse operation in Microsoft Word 2003 up to Word 2013 and in many other text editors.

 

This is an Upgrade

 

This edition of Windows Light (Read Assist) deploys the Nuance Scansoft Chinese text-to-speech engines (both Cantonese and Putonghua) for Chinese speech output.  Because a license fee is payable for each copy of the engines, the download provided here is the latest upgrade rather than the full version of the screen reader.  This means that before downloading and installing this upgrade, you must first have installed an earlier version of this software with the Chinese text-to-speech engines.  To obtain and installation disk for such a version, you may contact Retina Hong Kong by phone at 852-27089363 or by e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Users of other mother tongues or who do not need to rely on Chinese speech for text reading may download the Translingual edition of this software from this web site.

 

Points to Note

 

  • when installing this upgrade, make sure that the earlier version of the software is not running.  For assurance of success in upgrading, it is good practice to restart Windows before executing the upgrade package;

 

    • for full functioning of Windows Light in Windows 7 and higher releases, run it as an Administrator (this can be done by setting the “run as administrator” option in the property page of the desktop icon);

    • if there is any problem starting the program in Windows 7 or above, uninstall and then reinstall the package  in a folder outside the “program files (x86)” directory; and

 

  • press the ctrl+Win+escape keys to adjust speech settings and press the ctrl+Alt+h keys to get help when Windows Light is running.

 

 Release Notes

 

  • The current version of the software is released in September 2016.  It operates in both the 32-bit and 64-bit edition of Windows XP, 7, 8 and 8.1.  It supports both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Word up to 2013;

 

  • for installation in Windows 7 and above, execute the installation package with the “run as administrator” option.

 

Download

 

Now that you have a good idea of what this software is all about, you may now download the latest upgrade here.