Media Advisory - Accessibility at AMI.ca Now Made Even Better With Addition of World-Leading Text-to-Speech Software

TORONTO, July 4, 2012 /CNW/ - Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is proud to announce today that it has improved accessibility at its website, AMI.ca, for visitors who require online reading support, an audience that includes people with vision loss, people with dyslexia and other perception difficulties, as well as people learning English or French as a second language.

"AMI's mission is to make all media accessible to all Canadians and it is a significant advance for our organization that our website, which already offers a variety of leading-edge accessibility features, now makes it easier for our online visitors who rely on text-to-speech software to navigate their way around a website to discover all the terrific things we offer, including our new Described Video TV Guide," says Robert Pearson, AMI's Director of Accessible Digital Media.

The software, called BrowseAloud, features a selection of high-quality, natural-sounding voices in both official languages. It also:

• Reads websites, intranets, extranets, html, accessible Flash, alt tags, etc.
• Reads PDF and Word documents in their original format
• Highlights each word as it is spoken to show you where you are on the page
• Magnifies text to your chosen font size and font style
• Translates word-for-word between English, French, German, Italian and Spanish
• Looks up accurate dictionary definitions
• Converts text to MP3
• Masks information on the screen to help you focus on a particular area

For further information and to test the software, go to AMI.ca and click the BrowseAloud link on either the home or Accessibility Options pages.

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About Accessible Media Inc. 
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is a not-for-profit multimedia organization operating two broadcast services, AMI-TV, AMI-audio, and a web site, AMI.ca. AMI serves more than five million Canadians who are blind or with low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, learning disabled, mobility or print restricted, or learning English as a second language by making print, broadcast and online media accessible.

Janis Davidson Pressick, Communications Manager
800-567-6755 ext. 0971, [email protected]

Andrea Ramos, Public Relations Coordinator
800-567-6755 ext. 0977, [email protected]​