Amsterdam, Netherlands – Today AssistiveWare and Acapela Group announced the release of genuine French Text to Speech children’s voices. The voices, called Elise and Valentin, are made by and for children. Beginning today the voices are available as a free download in AssistiveWare’s Pictello, a visual storytelling app for iOS that’s often used in the classroom for social stories and schedules to support children with autism and Down syndrome.

In France, Belgium and Switzerland, over 100,000 francophone children between 2 and 14 years old are estimated to not be able to make themselves understood with their own voice. With today’s release of the French children’s voices, children can finally share stories with voices that are age appropriate and natural-sounding. In Pictello, the children’s voices are available in two variants; one that speaks numbers between 70 and 99 in the Belgian French way, and one speaking those numbers in the Parisian French way.

Soon these voices will support even more French children with autism and other diagnoses. Later in June they will be added to AssistiveWare’s text-based communication app, Proloquo4Text. This fall AssistiveWare will release its award-winning communication app, Proloquo2Go, in French. The app, already available in English and Spanish, has been optimized for French in collaboration with French AAC experts.

“French has always been an important language at AssistiveWare,” David Niemeijer, CEO of AssistiveWare says. ” After AssistiveWare was founded in 2000 with the release of on-screen keyboard KeyStrokes, French was the first additional language we supported.”

The new French children’s voices are also available on Mac through the Infovox iVox Voice Manager co-developed by Acapela Group and AssistiveWare. By using Apple’s built-in speech functions, the voices can read almost any text on Mac OS X. Combined with AssistiveWare’s word processor Wrise the voices also support French children in reading and writing.

AssistiveWare and Acapela Group have collaborated on genuine children’s Text to Speech voices since 2012, now offering 16 children’s voices. Both companies are looking forward to keep continuing offering voices for kids all over the world.

About Acapela Group:
Acapela Group invents speech solutions to vocalize any written content with authentic and original voices that express meaning and intent. Over 100 synthetic voices in 34 languages are ready to give a voice to any content producing a natural and pleasant audio result, by turning written input into speech, including a wide repertoire of children voices. We can create the voice your company needs. Just for you. This is Acapela bespoke expertise. Let’s talk!

Preview:
A preview of the French version of Proloquo2Go incorporating the new children’s voices will be available at the Autonomic conference in Paris. Find the AssistiveWare booth at C50 from June 8 – 10.

Availability:
Pictello is exclusively available on the App Store. Wrise is available on the Mac App Store. Infovox iVox is available through the AssistiveWare website, where we also offer free demos of Infovox iVox and Wrise.

AssistiveWare
Listen to the Voice Samples
More about Pictello
More about Proloquo2Go

Founded in 2000, AssistiveWare(R) 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. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2016 AssistiveWare. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac OS X, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.