AssistiveWare grows its unique children’s voices collection with Swedish

Amsterdam, February 2nd, 2016 - Today AssistiveWare and Acapela Group introduce the world’s first genuine Swedish Text to Speech children’s voices. Available through the Infovox iVox Voice Manager both voices, named Filip and Freja, can read any text on Mac using the built-in speech functions of OS X. Combined with AssistiveWare’s word processor Wrise the voices can support Swedish children in reading and writing. The children’s voices are also available in AssistiveWare’s Pictello, a visual storytelling app that’s often used in the classroom for social stories and schedules to support children with autism.

According to research (1), 1.15% of the Swedish population, including more than 15,500 children in Sweden aged between 3 and 13 years, are on the autism spectrum. With today's release of the Swedish children's voices, kids can finally listen to stories with voices that are age appropriate and natural-sounding.

“Children should have access to a Text to Speech voice that matches their age and gender,” founder and CEO of AssistiveWare, David Niemeijer said. “The importance of genuine children’s voices is demonstrated by the fact that since we released the first children's voices in 2012 they have already been downloaded 160,000 times.”

The Swedish children’s voices are co-created with Acapela Group and Tobii Dynavox, both offering strong expertise and knowledge of the Scandinavian market. Flip and Freja are the seventh Text to Speech siblings that AssistiveWare co-created with Acapela Group. Both companies share a strong dedication to the assistive technology market and were natural partners to tackle the challenges of developing the world’s first children’s voices. Now, children’s voices are available in American English, British English, Australian English, German, bilingual American/Spanish and Swedish.

"AssistiveWare has been our partner since the inception of the children voices. Together we have contributed to change the daily lives of children and their families that are using Acapela voices with AssistiveWare’s award-winning solutions. Fourteen children voices in different languages are already available, and we look forward to keep continuing offering voices for kids all over the world,” says Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.

Availability
Pictello is exclusively available on the App Store. Wrise is available on the Mac App Store. Free demos of Infovox iVox and Wrise can be download from the AssistiveWare website.

Useful links

###

About AssistiveWare
Founded in 2000, AssistiveWare has established itself as the worldwide leader in innovative assistive technology software for iOS and Mac OS X. AssistiveWare works in close collaboration with end users and professionals to offer a portfolio of award-winning solutions for individuals with physical, vision, communication, and reading impairments. In 2009, AssistiveWare was the first company to release a full-featured Augmentative and Alternative Communication solution for iOS – the award-winning app, Proloquo2Go. Together with Acapela Group, AssistiveWare was also the first to create genuine children's Text to Speech voices.

About Acapela Group
Acapela Group invents speech solutions that bring content to life through giving it a voice in up to 30 languages. More than 60 resounding synthetic, yet natural sounding voices as well as new, authentic children’s voices are ready to vocalize written content into a pleasant audio result. Acapela Group's repertoire includes producing a wide-ranging library of voices. Each audio selection is authentic sounding, unique and original, presenting a distinct personality that perfectly matches different contexts.

(1) Autism Science Foundation “Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Stockholm Youth Cohort”, August 2012