Sinhala Bhashakaya is a synthesized text-to-speech voice developped using formant taste. This Sinhala Reader package is developed by Mr. Ashoka Bandula Weerawardhana (Sri Lanka) with the extensive support received from late Mr. Him Prasad Gautham of Nepal. The main objective of this product is to provide a free tool to enable the visually impaired Sinhalese community in typing, reading, and accessing computer in Sinhala language, similar to their sighted peers.
concerns, Comments and feedback from users are always encouraged. If you have any queries, comments, suggestions or want to contribute its improvement, please contact its developer at
asokabandula@gmail.com.
Key features
- SAPI5 compatible Windows speech engine
- Multi-lingual support viz. Sinhala, Tamil, English.
- Supports many screen readers such as Jaws, NVDA, Window-Eyes, dolphin, Narrator etc.
- Produces audio files from text files
- Supports windows versions of XP and later (bit free)
- Available in 5 male and 4 female different tones of Voices
- Male variants: Bandara, Gautam, Maheen, Ravindu And, Sunil
- Female variants: Janaki, Kumari, Pavitra and Sheela
Using Sinhala Bhashakaya with Jaws:
- Activate the Jaws menu (Insert+J).
- Select the option- Voices- Adjust voices… sub menu. A voice setting dialog box will appear.
- From the dropdown box, select the voice profile as SAPI5.
- Press tab and select the synthesizer language as Sinhala (Sri Lanka).
- Press Tab key, set the voice context, rate, pitch etc.
- From the dropdown box, select the tone of voice of any person of your choice.
- Set the other options that match your preferences.
- Save the profile with a name of “Bhaashakaya” and press ok button.
Note: you can provide any name of your choice for the voice profile. The name Bhaashakaya is used as an Example here.
Using Sinhala Bhashakaya with NVDA:
- Activate NVDA menu (Press Insert +N).
- Select Preferences/setting.
- Select the synthesizer as Microsoft SAPI 5 under the ‘Speech’ options. Press the ok button.
- Select the name of person whose tone of voice you prefer from the ‘Voice combo box.
- Press tab key, set other parameter as your choice.
- Finally, Press ok button.
- Enjoy Sinhala Bhaashakaya with NVDA!
‘Text to Audio’
This version of Sinhala Bhaashakaya is packed with ‘Text to Audio’, a utility that reads texts or/and records in audio format. It uses the SAPI 5 voices available in the computer in use. The utility is available in this Setup Package as an optional item to be installed. If not removed from the list, it will be installed as an integral component of Sinhala Bhaashakaya.
Usage of this utility:
- It can read text containing at the edit box.
- It can read the text of a file without opening.
- It can open the text of a file at the edit box and read.
- It can directly generate an audio file from a text file.
- It does not needs any screen reader to perform the above tasks!
- The interference between screen reader and ‘Text to Audio’ is understandable. If disturbed, make screen reader silent.
How to use?
- When installed, a short cut icon ‘TextToAudio’ appears at the Desktop.
- To activate, click ‘TextToAudio’ short cut.
- A ‘Text to Audio’ dialog box will open.
- It contains push buttons, combo boxes, sliders and edit box with short cut keys.
- Press the Tab key to navigate among these controls.
- Press the corresponding control to execute the desired task.
- Press ‘Help Me’ button for detail of information.
Special note
We would like to pay a special tribute to late mr. Him Prasad Gautham of Katmandu Nepal, for his invaluable support provided when developing this peace of software.