1. Educational Testing Service
Expanding Audio Access to Mathematics Expressions by Students with Visual Impairments via MathML
Lois Frankel
Educational Testing Service
June 29, 2012
1/16/2019

2. The Problem
Text-to-speech support for math expressions is in its infancy
Limited choice of syntax/semantics
Limited screen-reader support
Limited or no within-expression navigation
Difficult to author
Works in limited environments
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3. Project Goals Add classroom-like synthesized speech “style”
Add author- and user-customization features
Add interactive navigation
Allow math to be created and listened to with screen readers within Microsoft Word (and elsewhere)
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4. A Brief Demonstration
Authoring
Playback
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5. First Feedback Study
Evaluated first version of the new “ClearSpeak” against the existing MathPlayer styles Simple Speech and MathSpeak
15 high school students with blindness or low vision, currently enrolled in Algebra 1 or above
14 completed the study; 1 partially completed
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6. Preliminary Results of First Feedback Study
Quantitative evaluation in progress
Understanding of and some preferences for terminology vary
Liked most: Clearspeak (8), Simple Speech (4), MathSpeak (2)
Liked least: Clearspeak (0), Simple Speech (3.5) MathSpeak (11.5)
But note “nested” bug in MathSpeak, and that turned most students off, so MathSpeak would likely have fared better without the bug
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7. First Study: Preliminary Results (2)
Familiarity of Speech:
Very Familiar
Somewhat Familiar
Somewhat Unfamiliar
Very Unfamiliar
Simple Speech 5 7 2
MathSpeak 6
ClearSpeak* 9
Discussion points:
Speak "times" vs. parentheses (open/close vs. left/right).
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8. First Study: Preliminary Results (3)
Very Familiar
Somewhat Familiar
Somewhat Unfamiliar
Very Unfamiliar
Simple Speech 8 1 7
MathSpeak 4 6
ClearSpeak*
ClearSpeak student comments:
[Liked]: “Fraction,” “numerator,” “denominator,” and “raised to the power of.”
The phrase “raised to the power” could just be “to the power”, “raised to the power 2” could just be “squared”, and the phrase “the fraction with numerator … and denominator … could be made with less words. [power 2 was on purpose because of the nature of the expression, for pedagogical purposes; i.e. idea is to divide and subtract exponents, so using “2” rather than “squared” desirable]
But note “nested” bug in MathSpeak, and that turned most students off, so MathSpeak would likely have fared better without the bug
I would take the “times” out.
Simple Speech:
I liked that it used “squared” and “to the” to refer to exponents; The way it reads negative exponents should be change (for example, “to the negative 3rd” instead of “super negative 3 end super”)
I liked that it was organized so I could hear all the parts clearly.
I couldn’t understand the statement.; It said “super” for all the exponents and it sounded like it skipped part of it.
I wouldn’t say superscript. I would say exponent.
I would take out the superscript for the exponents. I would put a pause between the end of the exponent and the beginning of the next variable. Use “exponent.”
MathSpeak:
I liked that it used “cubed” to refer to the third power; the “superscript” and “baseline” for exponents should be changed
I liked that it was clear about what fraction was supposed to be which, and that it was organized in a clear order.
I think taking out some of the things like the level deep and if not need the baseline, these made it a really long and confusing read.
I would insert “multiply” or “times” after baseline and before next variable or I would pause between them; otherwise, it was too fast.
Don’t like “dot.” Prefer “multiply by” because it gives me time.
I still don’t understand what “nested one deep” and “superscript” mean. I think I may understand that superscript means “to the power of something” and subscript is to the base of something. Like x^7, the 7 is the superscript and x7, the 7 is the subscript. Teacher’s note: The student then erased that, and rewrote: 5x7
Discussion Points:
Squared/Cubed vs exponent or power language
Exponent/power/superscript/baseline
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9. First Study: Preliminary Results (4)
Liked Most
Liked Least
Simple Speech 4
3.5
MathSpeak 2
11.5
ClearSpeak* 8
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10. Thoughts for Moving Ahead
Navigation
Word / better screen reader integration
Importance of preferences and flexibility
Voice Quality
Contact me if you know teachers, schools, students that might wish to participate in upcoming studies.
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11. Contact Information
Lois Frankel:
Beth Brownstein:
Neil Soiffer:
MathPlayer:
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R324A to the Educational Testing Service. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education
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