There have been several attempts to read printed letters using the vOICe. I have one way to do this. This is not the only way and I am still learning what letters look like. My reading has been limited to recognizing the shapes of letters using the vOICe. I had planned to use the windows magnifier to enlarge the size of the letters. I have used notepad as my wordprocessor of choice.

1. Set the font size to 72 or, if you want to try the magnifier, set the magnification level to 6.

2. Set the vOICe to follow the mouse pointer and activate negative video. Also, set the speed to quarter.

3. Hit windows+m to minimize everything.

4. Navigate to notepad.

5. If you are not using the magnifier, then set the font size to 72. If you are using the magnifier, do not bother doing this.

6. If using a screen reader, then get your mouse cursor to follow the insertion pointer.

7. Write the word CAT.

8. Navigate to the letter “C”.

9. Sit back and enjoy the soundscape.

10. You can activate the edge detection feature but there is no real need to do so.

Also, be careful with the letters “A” and “L”. They seem to run together. Other letters may also do this. It is possible to slowdown the vOICe even further. The settings like half speed and quarter speed are relative to the normal speed of sounding the soundscape. You change this normal speed and then slow things down. You change the speed via the Edit | Visual Sound Preferences | Visual sound
duration (s) per video frame dialogue box.
It will make reading words easier. Of course, with practice, you can increase your reading speed. To navigate from word to word, use the arrow keys.