DemandVoice Hosts RSS Speech for Visually Impaired Users

NEW YORK - DemandVoice, LLC of Atlanta, GA is hosting a free pilot of SpeakFeed, a service created to make Internet content accessible by speaking RSS feeds to callers, for the Georgia Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI) and the Georgia Library for Accessible Services (GLASS).  The pilot will be used to obtain feedback on quality, ease of use, design, and utility.

Originally conceived for "trapped" commuters (a common Atlanta phenomenon), this technology is of interest to visually impaired users wanting a hands-free way to stay informed in a timely manner without the need for special hardware or software.  Highlights and feedback for the pilot will be presented by Mark Rayburn, CEO of DemandVoice, today at SpeechTEK in the "Government: Innovative uses of speech technologies" track moderated by Dr. Judith Markowitz.

Although RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds have been around for quite awhile, they are now in wide spread usage by large media providers such as ESPN, CNN, as well as small personal or special interest blogger sites. 

With SpeakFeed, the visually impaired user can collect RSS feeds on news, sports, weather, traffic, entertainment, reports, Wikis, favorite blogs, or other content and listen to it though a phone instead of specialized, expensive equipment.  SpeakFeed users select feeds to provide a personal RSS audio experience.  The service utilizes internet technology to deliver real time news & content without the delays associated with Braille publishing.

"Now that IVR and Web are inextricably linked through a myriad of standards," said Rayburn, "we examine analogous speech alternatives to emerging web trends, standards, practice, and experimentation.  Our goal with SpeakFeed is to develop a service or framework that application developers can employ to offer fresh, dynamic, and/or relevant content from a broad range of sources in a cost effective and pleasing way, thereby increasing information accessibility."

About SpeakFeed
SpeakFeed allows anyone to peruse content that has personal relevance without being tethered to a PC or squinting into a small screen on a portable device.   News and information selections can be consumed on demand, on the go, with no equipment required other than your phone.  Turn your commute into a learning experience, rather than boredom, tension, or road rage.

About DemandVoice
DemandVoice LLC, headquartered in Metro Atlanta, is a voice hosting pure-play specializing in voice platform operations. Our standards-based, voice application hosting network integrates industry-leading VoiceXML, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Text-to-Speech/Speech Synthesis (TTS) servers to provide customers and partners with on-demand capacity for speech-enabled and touch-tone IVR applications.

DemandVoice houses its fully redundant platforms in quality-certified, geographically dispersed, carrier-neutral facilities designed for security, reliability, and high throughput. If you want the capacity to be heard, but not the large capital expenditures, delays, and risks of integrating and deploying voice hosting infrastructure then accelerate your time-to-market with DemandVoice's state-of-the-art global network.

Contact: Linda Healan, Public Relations for DemandVoice, LLC. 
lhealan@healanpr.com 678-889-8057