SBS Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Print Disabled

CereProc is pleased to announce a partnership with SBS Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Print Disabled (SBS) adding a new chapter to SBS’s long history in innovation and expanding the reach and accessibility of the printed word to those who are blind, visually impaired, or who have other print difficulties.

SBS provides access not only to books, but to audio films, tactile games, and magazines. These are available to users to loan or to buy.

By utilising CereProc’s rapid speech generation and SBS’ extensive library, users now have access to improved audio quality for SBS eBooks, and assistance with reading by highlighting the text word by word. This is available online and via downloads, ensuring you have access to the books regardless of internet connection, and can be read on the Braille display.

Michi Zaugg of SBS explains: “The cooperation with CereProc was, from the first contact, very kind, professional and solution oriented. As a non-profit organisation we were lucky to find a partner for the real-time-speech-synthesis for when customers are reading text-only-books. The performance of the real-time synthesis is excellent, CereProc was the only solution for us with all our requirements satisfied.”

"I hear, so I read."

With this the SBS can provide books to those with two sensory channels, with the benefits of both text and audio without the downsides of either. This is particularly useful for younger people who may be learning or struggling to read, as they can reference the text in real time with the audio.

With this new partnership, CereProc and SBS hope to further expand the reach of books to those who are visually impaired and increase the literacy of younger people with reading difficulties, who are typically underserved when it comes to literature. These features are available on the SBS Leser Plus app, Online, and can be downloaded on to your devices through the SBS.

Paul Welham, CereProc’s Chief Executive Officer commented “CereProc aims to work in partnership with organisations like SBS through out the world, to enable the delivery of high quality AI speech solutions at a local level, rather than from some anonymous tech giant that ignores the needs of organisations like SBS”.