Hi,

This is a filter to provide speech synthesis (text-to-speech/ TTS) services for arbitrary text. Text such as [Speak] Hello world! [/Speak] is replaced with a button with the text as a label. Press the button, and the text is spoken!

This is beneficial, for example, when teaching younger children. And for accessibility to those with disabilities.

• Code, https://github.com/nfreear/moodle-filter_simplespeak
• Zip, https://github.com/nfreear/moodle-filter_simplespeak/zipball/master

I hope this will prove useful. Please see the legal point below about possible TTS services.

Yours,

Nick

Install
-------
1. Download and unzip the code. Copy to the directory renamed to `simplespeak` to the server, eg. `/var/www/moodle/filter/simplespeak/`
2. Log in to Moodle as admin, visit Site Administration | Modules | Filters | Manage Filters. Scroll down and click on the icon for Simplespeak to enable it.
3. Choose SimpleSpeak under Filters, and add a TTS service.

Usage

1. Simple example. Enable the filter (admin). Then, type the following in a Moodle resource:

[Speak] Hello world! [/Speak]

2. Alphabet quiz example. Type the following in the rich-editor, for example for a question/quiz (note, line-breaks, which can be represented by are required):

[Speak]
;; Just a comment.
letter = A
sound = ah
image = http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Red_Delicious.jpg/240px-Red_Delicious.jpg
alt = A red delicious apple
word = apple
phrase = Which of the words below start with the letter [em]a[/em]?
[/Speak]

Notes

• Roadmap/ todo: replace jQuery dependency with YUI Javascript.
• TTS service: you can install local software, eg. use eSpeak/LAME, see http://code.google.com/p/webanywhere/ for ideas. Or it could be a third-party service, for example, Google Translate. Note, my reading of the Google Translate terms suggests this is probably OK - ie. pressing a button is not "automated" (and we cache the sound-files locally). However, I accept no responsibility for this - check the terms yourself!

• • See, http://google.com/accounts/TOS#!Section-5.3 - "You agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google..."