MICROCOMPUTERS IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.

WHILE EDUCATORS READILY ACKNOWLEDGE THE POTENTIAL VALUE OF INTEGRATING VOICE AND SOUND INTO COMPUTER-BASED INSTRUCTION, APPLICATIONS OF SPEECH HAVE BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT CREATING MULTIPLE MODALITY ENVIRONMENTS HAVE BEEN EXPENSIVE BECAUSE OF THE NEED FOR SPECIAL ADD-ON EQUIPMENT AND FOR THE MOST PART, THE QUALITY OF THE SPEECH OFFERED BY THESE PRODUCTS HAS NOT MET EDUCATORS EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT SHOULD ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF THE SPECIAL POPULATIONS FOR WHOM SUCH INSTRUCTION IS INTENDED. NEW TECHNOLOGIES, HOWEVER, WHICH USE A TECHNIQUE KNOWN AS WAVEFORM CODING CURRENTLY MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO IMPROVE SIGNIFICANTLY THE QUALITY OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY A COMPUTER WITH NO ADDITION OF HARDWARE. AT PRESENT, HOWEVER, SOUND. WHAT THIS PROJECT WILL ATTEMPT TO DO IS CREATE SUCH A TOOL AND TEST ITS FEASIBILITY FOR USE WITH BEGINNING READERS AND WITH VARIOUS "SPECIAL" POPULATIONS SUCH AS THE LEARNING DISABLED. VISUALLY IMPAIRED, NONVOCAL, SPEECH DELAYED, AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED.