Acapela Vocal Smileys

by Acapela-Group, http://www.acapela-group.com/doc/Vocal%20smileys/excla.html

 Acapela-Group have added the capability of using Voice Sounds and Exclamations.  Sounds are produced by the speakers’ voice for laughing, breathing, sneezing, coughing or whatever sounds our voices can produce to mimic sounds we make in our daily lives. Sounds are always between two pound signs #LAUGH01# in capital letters and sometimes followed by numbers if there are more than one of the same kind. The children’s voices have more sounds than adult voices.  Exclamations were a bit trickier to select and we only kept the most commonly used ones. Exclamations are always followed by an exclamation sign (!) – quite obviously - but without the blank between the word and the sign. If there is a blank left in between, the exclamation will be ignored. You may noticed that in some cases certain exclamations in the document are doubled by the same exclamation in brackets (“), this is simply to avoid that the (“) causes a pause with these exclamations that already have pauses.

NOVA chat software version 2.2 has incorporated the Acapela voices that include Vocal Smileys

Voice and Exclamation Commands

Commands can be found on the Acapela-Group site at http://www.acapela-group.com/doc/Vocal%20smileys/excla.html

Sample commands     #LAUGH02#        #CRY01#

The commands are case sensitive. Do not add spaces if not listed.  Voice commands must start and end with #.  Exclamations start with # and end with !#.

Note: An Acapela Voice must be used and not all commands work with each Acapela voice.

Programming a NOVA chat button to include either a Sound or Exclamation

A button can be programmed with the command in the message. However, if you use the 'speech message' action, it puts the command in the Speech Display Bar which isn't ideal.

A better way may be to program a button with an emoticon symbol in the message. For example, use a smiley face symbol. Note that you may need to go into the Android Settings -> Keyboards and add the Emoji keyboard so that you can type emoticon symbols. Once the button is programmed with the emoticon and speech message, go to pronunciations and add a pronunciation for the smiley face emoticon and enter command #LAUGH01# for the pronunciation.

The Pronunciation Editor can be found in Settings> Speech Output>Voice>Pronunciations menu. Choose Menu and New, Add the same Emoticon used on the button to the Pronounce box and add the command, e.g. #LAUGH02#, to the Pronounce As box.

Now when you touch the button, the emoticon will appear in the Speech Display Bar and the laugh sound will be heard.