APTA members IDS and Textspeak have announced plans to offer an advanced voice synthesis paging-announcement solution to the transit industry. Based on advanced text-to-speech technology, the system will create audio directly from existing passenger information display data streams to support ADA Compliance guidelines and general passenger audio announcements.
IDS will offer integration and software expertise, while TextSpeak hardware will provide the real-time passenger information, alerts and security warnings directly from digital signage streaming data or from stored text.
Unattended bus stops and rail platforms can be upgraded to support arrival/departure announcements. Safety is also enhanced when used to supplement existing public address systems. Mass notification and emergency messages can be sent and broadcast from information at remote command centers. In addition, passengers with disabilities, blind or with limited sight can be accommodated with audio announcements.
• Speech can be created from existing sources, such as RS-232 and network feeds to scrolling LED digital signage
• Informational alerts can be pre-programmed to start with the push of a button or launched remotely by automated systems.
• Moving vehicles can offer dynamic announcement information transmitted by radio, from stored data, or updated locally by the drivers.
• Multi-lingual announcements can be easily generated, with precise accents, to speak directly to international travelers.
• Text Speak hardware supports Push To Listen access points hardware and integrated audio sounder locator beacons.
• Deployment is suited for parking, platforms, trams, buses, gates, rail, marine and roadway systems.
"The speech quality we digitally synthesize is nearly indistinguishable from a spoken human voice," said Nancy Wolfe, president of TextSpeak. “IDS brings expertise in system integrations and a technical expertise to put our technology devices to work in the real-world.
TTS-EM-HD2 World Languages include: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish, among others.
