Hearing math function plots, color identification with speech, and much more, all integrated in one powerful PC camera based tool, and available free of charge! The vOICe Learning Edition software for Windows 95, 98 and NT now includes a built-in graphing calculator for hearing mathematical function plots, with the x-axis represented by time, and with the y-axis represented by pitch. This basic way of displaying functions is therefore similar to that used in for instance John Gardner's TRIANGLE math program. Left to right stereo panning is used to further enhance perception of the position along the x-axis. The audio function plot option is to be used in combination with a screen reader such as Jaws for Windows in order to access the regular Windows dialog box controls. The vOICe's audio function plot dialog allows you to specify a symbolic function such as 5*sin(x) and set x and y ranges for plotting, with or without hearing the x and y axes. Documentation about the supported mathematical functions has today become available on the new web page http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/winmath.htm and includes all the familiar operators such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as the regular mathematical functions such as square root, power, logarithm, exponential, sine, arcsine, hyperbolic sine and so forth. Mathematical constants such as pi and e are available predefined, and also a large number of important physical constants are available predefined, such as the speed of light, electron mass, Boltzmann factor, etcetera. Individual points of the user-specified function can be evaluated too and results accessed via your screen reader. You can download the software with built-in graphing calculator for Windows directly from the executable URL http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/voice.exe or in case of connection problems you can get it from the mirror site URL http://www.gironet.nl/home/meijerpb/voice.exe Beware though, that you need a PC camera to run the software, or else you will only get the spoken error message "I'm sorry, The vOICe cannot find your webcam". More on the reasons for that below. The required camera is just one of those cheap cameras as used for videoconferencing, so perhaps you can ask a sighted friend who has such a device to first demonstrate the software to you: seeing/hearing is believing. Alternatively, ask the salesperson in the computer shop to show it to you before you buy a PC camera that is compatible with your PC and operating system. Installation of The vOICe Learning Edition is very easy, and involves nothing but running the above executable. Once you have the camera hooked up and run the software, the graphing calculator dialog pops up when you press function key F8, and it will by default automatically sound the example function 5*sin(x), sounding a bit like "eioeioeioeio", until you enter another function such a 3 + 4 * x or whatever and adapt plotting ranges, using a regular screen reader such as Jaws for Windows to access the standard Windows controls. Note that the camera enables you to also access printed graphs! So you have the choice to either enter a function expression and listen to the resulting math plot, or you can point the camera to a graph printed in a book, on regular white paper, and hear that graph. This will make much more educational material accessible, and much more cheaply than via Braille paper. User requests for extensions will be considered for future releases. The main overview web pages for The vOICe Learning Edition software are http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/winvoice.htm http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/winvoic2.htm User feedback will be appreciated. Best wishes, Peter Meijer E-mail: [log in to unmask] Soundscapes from The vOICe - Seeing with your Ears! http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/