Playing back data you have entered into your worksheet is one of the new features in Excel 2002. Data can be played back for a group of cells by column or row, and you can also have Excel read back each cell as you enter the data. This feature can work well for those with a vision impairment or those who simply want to double-check their data entry with audio. My only real disappointment with the speech in Office XP is that the voice is very electronic and sounds somewhat canned. The voice, however, can at least be changed from female to male and the speed of the play back can be changed. You may have to ask your system administrator to install this feature on your machine if not already present.
Playing Back Data
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From the Tools menu, choose Speech and Show Text to Speech Toolbar.
The button options are explained
below:
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Speak Cells - Plays back cells after a group has been selected. |
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Stop Speaking - Stops the play back. |
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By Rows - Plays back cells in a group by proceeding in an across manner. |
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By Columns - Plays back cells in a group by proceeding in a down manner. |
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Speak on Enter - Plays back data as it is entered into each cell and is triggered each time Enter is pressed. |
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Note that any buttons you currently have active show with a black outline on the toolbar. |
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Select a group of cells in your worksheet to play back.
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Choose either the By Row or By Column button.
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Choose the Speak Cells button to hear the play back. Excel shows the current cell being played back by highlighting the cell in white, as below.
To correct an error during play back, simply choose the Stop Speaking button, correct the error, and resume speaking with the Speak Cells button. If you skip step 2 and don't select any range of cells, Excel will select your active cell and automatically select all surrounding cells for play back, stopping the selection at blank cells.
Note that if you hide the Text To Speech toolbar and you have not turned off Speak On Enter , the computer continues to read back each cell entry you make, so be sure to click Speak On Enter to turn it off if you want to stop the play back.
Changing Play Back
Settings
To change the voice from female to
male, or to change the rate of the play back speed, you need to change the
speech settings in Windows. Follow these easy steps:
From the Windows Start
menu, choose Settings and Control Panel. Open Speech, and select
the Text To Speech tab. Select a male or female voice
from the Voice selection box. You can choose Preview Voice to
hear the voice speak. To change the rate at which the speech play back voice
speaks, use the slider under Voice speed. You can choose Audio
Output to listen to the speed you've chosen. If Excel is open, close and
re-open the program for the new settings to take effect. Note that the voices available depend on the language you have
installed and any language packs that may have been added. I tested this feature and found it to be pretty accurate.
It recognizes names -- even some that aren't so common -- and also plays back
numeric symbols like dollar signs and percents. If you misspell a word and
it is not automatically corrected with the AutoCorrect feature in Excel or if it
is a word not recognized, the play back reads the word as it appears. I
did, however, type in a number with five decimal places and while the number was
rounded in my worksheet to four decimal places, the play back spoke the actual
number I typed. Overall, text to speech is an interesting concept, and I
look forward to Microsoft continuing to improve and add to this feature in the
future.