Recent News (2009-2010)

In their commitment to accessibility, Apple recently featured ReadHear Mac on their Accessibility page and their OS X resources page. ReadHear Mac is the first-ever DAISY Player for Mac and supports plain text, DAISY, and NIMAS formats.

Read more about ReadHear Mac.

On April 23rd, gh participated in a poster session in Bradford Woods for Indiana AHEAD. The session focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) accessibility.

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN., Jan. 22, 2010 - GH, LLC is pleased to announce the development and release of ReadHear™ Mac, the only fully-featured commercial Digital Talking Book player available for the Mac. ReadHear Mac provides access to books and other text materials for those who have low-vision, blindness, learning disabilities, or mobility impairments.

ReadHear Mac allows Mac users with disabilities to experience the features of gh PLAYER, while still being able to utilize accessibility features available in Mac OS X.

ReadHear Mac plays NIMAS, plain text, DAISY 2 and 3, Save-As DAISY XML, MathML, and supports SVG images. According to Dave Schleppenbach, president of gh, LLC, "We feel the new version of ReadHear Mac is a major step forward, and provides users the highest level of access at a price that is truly affordable."

Key features of ReadHear Mac include: magnification, color contrast, MathML support, roaming activation for greater portability, continuous reading while multi-tasking, support for large books, and automatic updates. Keyboard shortcuts, navigation controls, text highlighting, bookmarks, and VoiceOver support are all integrated into ReadHear Mac, providing a simple yet rich reading experience.

ReadHear Mac will be showcased to the general public at the ATIA Orlando 2010 assistive technology conference, and a free trial version is available for download here. ReadHear Mac is compatible with Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. ReadHear Mac costs $119.99, and bulk discounts are available for educators and institutions.

Specializing in innovative math and science products and services, gh, LLC is an award-winning assistive technology company providing access to information for people with a print or learning disability, whether reading a textbook, publication, standardized test, or website. Conversion services include Braille, tactile graphics, Digital Talking Books, and NIMAS formats. For more information on gh, LLC, click here.

gh is proud to introduce two new accessible software products: ReadHear™ Mac and ClickHear™. ReadHear Mac brings DAISY reading capabilities to the Macintosh platform—the first of its kind! ClickHear is a toolbar that utilizes high-quality Text-to-Speech voices to read web pages aloud for you. Check out these new products and more in the products section.

Coinciding with the release of ReadHear™ Mac and ClickHear, we've launched a revamped website and online store. Contact us for suggestions or comments on the new design.

gh's collaborative project with Purdue University, the VISO (Voice Input/Speech Output) Calculator, was featured in a case study by the National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI). In addition, Dr. Dave Schleppenbach of gh, LLC and Dr. Emily Bouck of Purdue University submitted a formal article of the study, which is forthcoming in a peer-reviewed journal. (View PDF of case study)

gh released an updated version of the gh PLAYER™ 2.2 with improved "Save as DAISY XML" and SVG image support (Full release notes).

gh exhibited at the Texas Assistive Technology Regional Conference in Houston, Texas. We also give a presentation on the gh PLAYER™ including MathML and the Save-As DAISY feature used to create your own Digital Talking Book.

gh attended the 2009 PATINS Project Tech Expo on April 16 in Indianapolis, Indiana. We gave a presentation on the gh PLAYER™ including the MathML and Save-As DAISY features.

gh exhibited at the CSUN 2009 Conference in Los Angeles, California from March 18 to March 21. gh was located in the Marriott hotel at booth #277. Dave Schleppenbach gave a presentation on the Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Accessible Testing System for High-Stakes and State-Mandated Tests (Session details). Dennis Leas gave a presentation on the availability and use of Math and DAISY in Microsoft Word (Session details).

gh's Dennis Leas has co-authored the paper "Daisy 3: A Standard for Accessible Multimedia Books" (abstract), appearing in the October-December 2008 issue of IEEE Multimedia. This paper is available electronically from IEEE Xplore and also as a text-only Daisy 3 book from gh.

gh exhibited at the ATIA 2009 Conference in Orlando, Florida from January 28 to January 31. Dave Schleppenbach gave a presentation on Friday, January 30 about the new features offered in the gh PLAYER and creating your very own DAISY book, along with making math books available at your fingertips. Thanks to all those who stopped by Booth #306 to see all that the gh PLAYER 2.2 has to offer!