Proloquo2Go, the groundbreaking Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC) program for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch is now available at the iTunes App store.

Developed jointly by AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting, the program is full featured but together with an iPod Touch/iPhone the costs are only a fraction of what is charged for similar palmtop-based programs.

David Niemeijer, AsisstiveWare's CEO said, "When we set out to design Proloquo2Go we knew we wanted to provide the kind of power typically only found in desktop applications. The iPhone has allowed us to do just that, develop a full-featured, fully customizable communication solution that fits right in your pocket."

I really think that the low price and fantastic features, plus the "cool factor" of the iPhone/iPod Touch will mean this app has the potential change the lives of some AAC users - especially young people for whom the "cool factor" may mean that they're more willing to use their device in public. If you or somebody you're close to becomes a Proloquo2Go user, please let ATMac know how you go - we'll be listening closely!

Proloquo2Go is available on the App Store for an introductory price of US$149.99/€109.99/£84.99. After a few weeks the price will be US$199.99/€149.99/£114.99. Prices in other countries will be comparable - go to Proloquo2Go at the iTunes App Store to see the price for your location. Bundles with speakers and cases are available in some countries - details are available on the Proloquo2Go Bundle Details page.

Website: Proloquo2Go

- Ricky Buchanan

[proloquo2go-disclaim]

Proloquo2Go is a Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC) program for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, soon to be available from AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting.

We know that Proloquo2Go has been built from the ground up for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and will be offering symbol and text-based communication with text-to-speech voices, but until now not many details have been revealed. This has changed now that the new Proloquo2Go website has been launched, including a Proloquo2Go Community Discussion Mailing List.

The introductory price for Proloquo2Go will be made available at an introductory price of US$149, rising to US$199 after several weeks. As we speculated in our previous article about Proloquo2Go, this is just a fraction of the price of similar AAC solutions - even taking into account the cost of an iPod Touch or iPhone. This low price makes it a great choice for self-funded AAC users as well as those who want an easily portable secondary AAC system to go with a larger desktop system.

The website has a lot of information, including these sections:

• About Proloquo2Go details features, basics of usage, and how the vocabulary works.
• Users of Proloquo2Go details Child, Teen, and Adult uses including case studies and quotes from users, teachers, family, and other supporters.
• Proloquo2Go Manual describes basic use, configuration and options, and more complicated features such as verb morphology.
• The Support section includes the FAQ, contact details, a sign up list for people who want to be kept abreast of developments, and the mailing list referred to above.

Proloquo2Go has been submitted to the iTunes App Store, but needs to be approved by Apple before it's available for customers to purchase. This means it may be available within a few weeks, or at worst case Apple may take several months to approve it. The developers have no control over this approval process so they're undoubtedly as frustrated at the rest of us at the delay. We'll let you know as soon as Proloquo2Go is available, but suggest all interested people go to the website and sign up to stay informed about progress.

The developers have also very kindly given me access to a preview copy of Proloquo2Go to test out on my own iPod Touch, so I should be able to report further details very soon. If you have any questions you'd specifically like addressed, just leave a comment below and I'll do the best I can!

Website: Proloquo2Go

- Ricky Buchanan

Voice4Me is one of the free programs available at the SchoolFreeware website. It's a very basic AAC program for users who have trouble speaking - users can click on a picture to speak the associated text, or type text into a box and then click on the 'speak' button.

There's a comprehensive introduction to this program available on the YouTube website, including configuration instructions:

[embed width="640" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcGindLKhMM[/embed]

The program is very limited in how much it can be configured - you must have both the picture and the text areas, and the number and size of the pictures can't be varied. The program also can't be controlled by keyboard alone if you want to access the pictures, so it's not usable with any combination of switches which is unfortunate. On the plus side it's free and once it's set up it's fairly easy to use. If you have no access to other AAC software this could be helpful.

Website: Voice4Me

- Ricky Buchanan

AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting have announced that they are working on a groundbreaking Alternative & Augmentative Communication (AAC) program for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch called Proloquo2Go. It's expected to ship by the end of March, 2009.

Features listed on the Proloquo2Go website:

• Communication system designed from the ground up optimized for the iPhone/iPod touch
• Built-in text-to-speech (male, female and child voices)
• Picture and text based communication
• Over 6000 symbols plus you can easily add your own pictures
• Easy to use, yet with powerful customization options
• Many innovative features to facilitate and speed up your communication

No cost has been released yet, but I would expect that even with the cost of an iPod Touch included this should make a very competitively priced AAC system. A Cyrano Communicator, for example, costs US$1399 and runs on a small pocket PC with a touchscreen which is very roughly similar to an iPod Touch or iPhone. Saltillo's ChatPC, running on a touchscreen palm sized PC runnind Windows Mobile, starts from US$2395. Dynavox's Palmtop3 costs US$5245 and also runs on a touchscreen palm sized PC running Windows Mobile.

Those who are interested can leave their details on the website and will be notified when Proloquo2Go is available. Samuel Sennott has also posted on his blog that there will be presentations on Proloquo2Go at the ATIA conference this week. See his post for further details.

Website: Proloquo2Go

- Ricky Buchanan

[proloquo2go-disclaim]

Have you ever wanted to make phone calls on the net using a synthetic computer generated voice? If you're an AAC user, then this is a great way to communicate with people remotely. This article will show you how to set up Wiretap Anywhere to send your speech voice to Skype's internet phone system. Almost the same method will also work with other voice chat programs like iChat, Gizmo, and iSoftPhone.

You'll need the Wiretap Anywhere and Skype software to start with. The default service that comes with free Skype software only allows computer to computer connections so if you want to call cellphones and landlines you will have to fund an account with Skype. Skype calls these funds SkypeOut - you can see the SkypeOut panel by clicking on the "€" symbol on the top right hand side of the Skype window:

Here's what happens when you click on it:

Now you can visit the account page to put funds into your SkypeOut account if you want to make calls to regular phones.

Configuring the Wiretap Anywhere software to pick up your system audio is absurdly simple. Open the "System Preferences" panel from the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen:

Now click on the "Wiretap Anywhere" logo to open that preference pane:

You want to create a new device, so press the handy "plus" button at the lower left of the pane:

Your new device will be called "Untitled 1". You can rename it if you want - I've called mine "AAC Telephone" here:

You should immediately see audio levels on the Wiretap Anywhere indicators
showing any audio activity in your computer, such as iTunes playing or system/third party voices speaking.

Now go into Skype and open the Preferences via the "Skype" menu. Click on the speaker icon at the top of the pane - where the top red circle is in this picture - and then select your Wiretap device as the "Audio Input" device - that's the lower red circle:

Your first call should be to Skype's built in "test call" service to confirm that skype is receiving your synthetic voice audio. The Skype name to call is "echo123" and it gives you a chance to talk and then plays back to you what it heard.

That's all! You're now ready to make phone calls on the net using a synthetic computer generated voice. Congratulations!

- Ricky Buchanan and NewJack Rasputin