Update History

Keeps the system awake, i.e. keeps the display from turning off or the system from entering sleep mode.

Fix for visual scanline sticking at far right in exercise mode due to a multithreading issue, and other minor fixes.

Reduced flicker with clock and elapsed time display in fullscreen exercise mode (from pressing F11 F12). Removed listing of "Audio In" devices in Drivers menu because SAPI voice command support obsolete.

Added clock and elapsed time display to fullscreen exercise mode, for convenience of sighted users. Further fixes for unwanted side-effects of mouse pointer autohide.

The HESTER mode for the optional "hesternalization" audio rendering no longer requires registration, in honor of Hester Wagenvoort (1962 - 2022). Fix for unwanted mouse pointer autohide while in open dialogs or menus.

Added visual scanline blanking during display blanking in the exercise mode with randomly placed shapes. Autohide mouse pointer while mouse not moving. The latter is particularly convenient when streaming the fullscreen exercise mode for voluntary mental imagery training (from pressing F11 F12) to a Oculus/Meta Quest 2 headset using  Virtual Desktop with its Black Void environment for minimal suppression of crossmodal vision by eyesight and its Head Lock setting to keep the view centered at all times, also when lying down. New command line option -F11F12 for starting The vOICe in fullscreen exercise mode (equivalent to pressing function keys F11 and F12) and without connecting to any video capture device (as with the -nocapture command line option).

Fix for poor image downscaling when using -nocapture command line option in combination with video frame magnification > 1, e.g. affecting steep lines in exercise mode. Minor change in moving scanline timing.

Fix for sound muting when turning on exercise mode while no camera connected, and fix for background intensity change in exercise mode for HIRES active.

Added support for window and mouse area sonification on extended screen (second monitor); fullscreen sonification still only on primary screen. Foveal mode turned off while in exercise mode.

Fix for arrow-up key not working (e.g. with zoom).

The Escape key can now be used to leave fullscreen mode (normally toggled by function key F12). Fix for fullscreen not maximizing to external monitor when window showing on external monitor.

Fix for vOICeControl no longer working, while dropping the registration requirement for that functionality. Added an optional background noise level for use with randomly placed shapes. Updated volume after overflow correction immediately stored to profile.

Dropped all (SAPI) speech support because of tool chain obsolescence. Beta shift correction also for HESTER mode, for better stereo panning. Improved all-at-once mode to avoid weak sounds with dark backgrounds. Added partial support for running under Linux Wine - but still without video capture from a camera. Added support for display blanking options in Exercise mode for use in normally sighted visualization (mental imagery) training. Updated icon. Adapted fullscreen view. Foveal mapping no longer applied with Exercise modes.

Fixes a bug where soundscape timing was much too short when The vOICe window was minimized while a camera was connected. Use of "https" links is now allowed in the Internet sonification browser.

Support added for extended desktop sonification when using a second monitor. New option for left/right mirror view in Windows Preferences for webcams that capture a mirror image view. Bug fix for bidirectional scan option in live camera views.

Fix for (built-in) webcams that fail to work with Video for Windows (VfW) apps because their DirectShow driver does not load the DirectShow VfW wrapper unless first loading DirectShow itself.

Fix for newer Syntek driver based camera glasses where soundscapes would no longer run synchronized with video.

Bug fix for Defaults button in Visual Sound Preferences dialog (would set all to default). Fix for detection of special Amcap version. Fix for left/right arrow key override while using the "All at once" mode in combination with the exercise modes (F11 and Shift F11).

Modified cochlear tuning, fixes missing audible cursor with fullscreen sonification, and suspends foveal view when there is an audible cursor in screen or window sonification. Low light boost by default on.

Workaround for problem that camera glasses driver occasionally freezes for resolutions of 352 × 288 and above. (This was not a bug in The vOICe, but The vOICe would by default use 352 × 288 with the foveal mapping; now instead capturing at 320 × 240 if supported.)

Fixed function plot bug showing half the curve for video frame magnification 2, and other minor bug fixes; added support for text-to-speech via  SayTools (now archived); made foveal mapping the default for reset with camera connected; experimental fast corner detection added based on the work of Edward Rosten.

Minor fixes, including clicks with some audio devices, and better left-right stereo separation.

Support for percent signs in URLs added to the Internet sonification browser, thus for instance supporting %20 encoding for spaces in URLs. Default audio seperation expanded for use with wide-angle lenses and cameras. Fixed 16-bit screen display artifacts with the foveal mapping option. Fixed the problem that The vOICe would hang at startup when a video capture driver pops up a device selection dialog at startup while the splash screen is showing.

Added option for presenting multiple selected image files (via Control O) in random order (toggled by Alt R). Image filename roots then spoken when SAPI 4 text-to-speech installed and active and USB video capture device connected. File requester changes (positioning). Various security related changes.

Fixed several compatibility issues relating to setting the current working directory. Added vOICeTWAIN.bmp saving and voicetwain.bat support.

Improved foveal realignment option, preserving a full view even when using a non-default (non-center) position of the fovea. Added store/get buttons for multiple fovea locations.

New foveal mapping option (toggled by Shift Alt F4; Shift Alt 4 for settings dialog). Frame dropping for systems running at a (too) low clock frequency. Update v1.81b fixes a bug in the initial menu state for the foveal mapping and extends video format support.

Improved robustness for connecting with non-RGB video formats. Fixed synchronization bug in saving AVI movie clips with non-default scan rate.

Fixed left camera to left ear and right camera to right ear stereo vision option, and fixed support for running multiple instances.

Fixed default soundscape rendering selection, fixed bidirectional scanning option for still images.

Fixed shortcut creation under Windows Vista and Windows 7 (64-bit).

Strict SAPI 4 checking enforced, optional right-to-left scanning added (Control Alt L), additional stability protections added. Update v1.70b fixes a problem that for some users caused The vOICe to hang at startup.

Bug fix in soundscape rendering. Experimental image noise filter added. "Snapshot" SAPI speech command added, and SAPI speech feedback on focus option.

Added error messages when using unsupported compression format (e.g., MJPG). Option added to allow multiple instances of The vOICe to run (registered users only).

Modified brainwave entrainment settings, with newly added transposed binaural sound option.

Improved scantime stability, popup in case of unsupported MJPG compression, and modified brainwave entrainment settings.

Security fix and extra check for presence of audio output device.

A bug was fixed that caused The vOICe to crash during startup on some systems. Update v1.70b fixes an audio input format problem for some capture devices (Labtec 6.0.1 webcam driver under Windows Vista). This update also adds another brainwave entrainment option.

Modified spatial sound rendering, with modified defaults for (reduced) spatialized audio. Refined skin color detection. Less perceptual artefacts with perception of small dark shapes on a bright background. Modified brainwave entrainment defaults. Update v1.68b fixes a minor bug that could occur while blocking multiple instances.

Minor refinements to the brainwave entrainment option. Update v1.68b fixes a minor bug that caused audio and video to run out of sync when saving video clips (Control A).

Minor changes and bug fixes. Speech command "Slow" added. Initial binaural phase options for brainwave entrainment added.

Experimental brainwave entrainment options added. UNIX time stamp option added. Minor bug fixes. Update v1.66b fixes a minor user interface issue in the brainwave entrainment preferences dialog.

Stereo channel swapping option added and improved. CD-ROM drive locked against inadvertent opening, e.g., while The vOICe is running inside a backpack (Windows NT and later only; optionally unlocked with Alt+U).

"Blinders" option added. No battery state change beeping while charging. Minor bug fixes.

Administrative changes and minor extensions (Send To support via context menu).

Extended support for animated GIF images. Resizing to VGA during live OCR. Some bug fixes.

Version 1.61, January 2004:

Minor changes in color mode switching to better suit users of screen readers. Refined image subsampling. Improved and extended eye-tracking control. Drag and drop of image files supported (for sighted users). Update v1.61b fixes a bug in sounding image files, and v1.61c contains minor cosmetic corrections.

Refined perceptual enhancement of small dark items on a bright background, for an auditory approximation of the ON and OFF cells in the human retina. Efficiency improvements, minor bug fixes and an improved classification of dark and light in the color identier. A new software crosshairs option was added for special purposes.

Fixes a bug affecting the saving of AVI movies with non-default frame rates. Improved auditory perception of small dark objects on a dark background. Fixes a problem with modem audio drivers blocking startup. Provisional support added for tactile mouse pointer feedback, for use with pointing devices like the Logitech Wingman Force Feedback mouse or HP Force Feedback mouse. Update v1.59b fixes some minor bugs.

Fixes a JPEG file generation bug when using a 16-bit screen display mode. For systems that can handle this: automatic switching to 24-bit or 32-bit screen display modes supported for best results with image enhancement (better than with a 16-bit screen display mode). Update v1.58b fixes a non-functioning command line option (-nosapi).

Fixes program startup and program exit problems for users of Windows 95 and 98.

A bug in the automatic OCR batch file generation ("recognize.bat") has been fixed. Users may have to delete an existing "recognize.bat" file. Update v1.56b fixes a minor memory allocation bug.

Refined contrast enhancement. Improved handling of USB capture device (dis)connection. New user options: binaural mapping and change detection. OCR support for TWAIN devices added (high resolution capture from flatbed scanners or digital still image cameras). Minor bug fixes.

Support added for cameras that cannot handle RGB video formats. Extended SAPI 4 text-to-speech filtering to avoid crashes with OCR on strings that Microsoft SAPI 4 could not handle. Hibernation support for Windows 2000 and XP has been added. Various minor cosmetic changes, mostly for Windows XP.

Fixes the long-standing "invisible scanline" problem on Windows NT, 2000 and XP. Various minor changes.

A problem on Windows NT, 2000 and XP in saving AVI movie files has been solved: no more "Error: Cannot add wave buffers". Moreover, AVI movie files can now be made from sources other than live video, such as multiple image files or GIF animations. An automatic switch from 8 bit (256 color) display mode to 16 bit and back has been added for blind users working with screen readers that still require the old 8 bit mode. Several minor improvements, cosmetic changes and bug fixes. Update v1.52b fixes a minor bug.

First generation added of an experimental new sound rendering technology, named "hesternalization" (for registered users only, 4 GHz or faster PC recommended). Support for color scans with TWAIN devices such as flatbed scanners added. Support for multiple speech recognition user profiles added, and the possibility to export or import a selected user profile. Speech commands for color filtering added, as well as a speech command "say light" to give an indication of the light conditions. Update v1.51b integrates the new donation support.

Support for eye-tracking devices added. Speech commands "say charge" and "hibernate" added. Battery management improved and battery management support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP added. Several minor improvements and bug fixes.

Support for mobile OCR added. Several improvements and minor bug fixes. Update v1.49b does not overwrite an existing recognize.bat batch file.

Support for 32 kHz, 48 kHz and 96 kHz soundscape added. Integrated solution for mouse pointer sonification problem on Windows NT. Update v1.48b fixes a remaining mouse pointer sonification problem under Windows XP. Several improvements and minor bug fixes.

Skin color detection option added. Various minor improvements and bug fixes.

Fixes a minor scaling problem in automatically enlarging tiny GIF images.

A range of improvements and extensions relating to the mobile use of SAPI 4.0 compliant speech recognition engines and text-to-speech engines. A problem with crashes resulting from a speech training session under Windows-98 SE has been solved. Updates v1.45b,c fix some harmless but inappropriate error messages.

Improved support for using a screen reader in independent speech training for a SAPI 4.0 compliant speech recognition engine.

Improved and extended support for SAPI 4.0 compliant speech output and mobile speech recognition. Improved and extended battery management (power management) support for mobile users. Sleep mode support added. Update 1.43b fixes minor problems with some sound cards, and update 1.43c (November 2000) keeps the sound card released after pressing Control-F2 until explicitly reclaimed.

Extended support for animated GIF images. Various minor improvements.

Support for stereoscopic vision added. Wave bar option added to Window preferences.

Default sound quality improved. Introduction of two default audio settings: "best" and "good". Arrow key control added to mouse area sonification. Fixed the occasional and temporary CPU hogging observed in using The vOICe command add-on in combination with SB Live soundcard drivers. Extended support for multichannel sound cards. Minor bug fix for users of the SAPI 4.0 speech synthesis driver.

Improved game sonification support for use with third-party 3D graphics games. Sound cursor added, acting as audible mouse pointer in fullscreen sonification. Extended SAPI 4.0 speech support, including a speech preferences dialog. Active window sonification option added. Support for image map links added to the Internet sonification browser. New motion detection option added. Various minor improvements. Update v1.39b fixes minor problems in switching video capture devices on-the-fly.

Support for access to VRML worlds added. Various minor improvements. Update v1.38b extends support for working with minimized windows.

Audio-visually synchronized moving scanline for enhanced sighted feedback on auditory profile synthesis (can be turned off via Window Preferences). Control key with arrow key now gives smaller strides in zoom modes. Bug fix for occasional crashes after using the TIFF/TWAIN interface.

A number of minor improvements to the Internet sonification browser, including extended server support and cache control.

New TIFF add-on option for loading TIFF image files using the vOICeTIFF.dll interface, if present. TIFF image support complies with LZW license obtained from Unisys. Support for JPEG input no longer requires the corresponding add-on. Image input support extended to include icon image files, enhanced metafiles and Windows metafiles. A number of improvements to the Internet sonification browser.

GIF image support added, complying to LZW license obtained from Unisys. Internet sonification browser added.

System wide hotkey option added. Experimental 3D motion analysis option added.

Removed a number of restrictions that applied to users with a TWAIN scanner but without a camera, and various other improvements, mostly for users of scanners.

Support for multiple audio input devices added. Improved and extended TWAIN support, as well as some bug fixes for the TWAIN interface.

TWAIN support added. Moved driver selection from Edit menu to new Drivers menu. Zoom support for fullscreen sonification added. Update v1.30b better preserves thin lines in 1-bit black and white scans, while v1.30c saves and restores the pixel type and bit depth across sessions.

New mouse pointer sonification option added. Significantly reduced executable size. Update v1.29b may provide a fix for incompatible Microsoft msvcrt.dll versions.

The vOICe integrated mail support added.

• New JPEG add-on option for loading and saving JPEG image files using the vOICeJPG.dll interface, if present. Math plots can now also be saved as image and sound files by pressing Control S in the auditory function plot dialog. Update v1.27b fixes the demo mode for users who don't have a video capture device driver.

• New exercise mode added: an accessible game of Tic Tac Toe using soundscapes.

• New MP3 add-on option for generating MP3 audio files using the BladeEnc.dll interface, if present. Refined zoom for imported BMP image files. Rotation options added. Update v1.25b fixes AVI file saving and timing problems that have been found with some video capture drivers, and adds an ALTAVI option to the Edit | Visual Sound Preferences | Advanced menu, again to allow for compensating known weaknesses of some video capture drivers.

• Several Windows NT 4.0 problems fixed. Fourfold and eightfold speed options run much more smoothly now. Built-in quick reference added. Arrow key control for zoom modes added. New manual scan option. The vOICe command add-on extended with fourfold speed control.

• Most non-camera functions can now be accessed without a camera, albeit without saving any user-defined settings. Refined contrast enhancement.

• New raster scan option. Support for SAPI 4.0 compliant speech recognition and speech synthesis added. Extensions to auditory function plot option. Special thanks to David.

• Demonstration mode in case no video capture device is connected. Minor improvements to contrast enhancement. F8 now a toggle.

• New auditory function plot option added. Muting now accessible within dialogs for improved screen reader compatibility. CCTV mode fixed.

• Automatic video driver selection. Improved screen reader compatibility, in particular for users (thank you, David!) of JAWS for Windows from Henter-Joyce. Experimental horizontal slit view option added.

• Support for YVU9, I420 and many other special non-RGB video formats for capture devices added. Extended zoom options: 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x. Enhanced sound perception via HIRES option (active by default). New GUI sonification options added. Intermediate versions are being tested by users: these improve results for some very special combinations of screen format and video format. The latest update was 1.18c.

• Extended exercise mode: manual positioning controls with speech support. Refined audio/video synchronization.

• New exercise option with automatic pattern generation. Improved support for multiple device drivers per device type. Improved subsampling for QCIF video mode. Refined greyscale luminance mapping. Experimental brightness probe added. PC speaker support added. Capture of non-video (e.g., exercise mode) frames to BMP image file.

• Several users reported inaccurate color identification with their graphics cards. This should now have been fixed (please report if this is not the case!). Quarter speed option added.

• The vOICe 3D enhancement option added. In addition, the so-called ``3D Stereo Enhancement'' or ``Spatializer Enable'' option provided with many modern sound cards (e.g., see the advanced mixer settings of the Creative Soundblaster AWE64) is now automatically disabled while The vOICe is running, because these sound effects are incompatible with the carefully designed spatial sound processing offered by The vOICe.

• Audio dithering was added to increase effective dynamic range. A Microsoft bug w.r.t. free disk space measurement on large disks (>2GB) was corrected. Workarounds for several Windows-NT problems were created. An open interface for third-party software (e.g., for OCR) was added. Several keyboard shortcuts were added. An eightfold-speed menu option was added, as well as a menu option to disable speech output. Edge enhancement has been refined.

• Refined soundscape timing for fast video capture devices. Extended contrast enhancement option. Enhanced perception of stereo sound. Minor cosmetic and other improvements.

• Extended audio and video driver selection for users having multiple audio cards and/or video capture devices. Preparations for SIGGRAPH 98. Extended window preferences: magnification options (2x, 4x and full-screen). Improved performance (speed).

• A bug fix release. Version 1.09 would in the very first run start with M=31 rather than M=64 frequency slots, i.e., with a much lower auditory resolution than intended. Current users of v1.09 can cure the problem by pressing Control F1 just once while The vOICe is running.

• Interfacing solution added, allowing third-party screen readers and other audio applications for the blind to turn The vOICe sound output on or off (to avoid audio resource conflicts). Improved voicel deinterlacing and refined equal loudness scaling for enhanced sub-voicel resolution. Screen savers now automatically deactivated while The vOICe is running.

• New option for sonification of multiple BMP image files, overriding the direct video input.

• Improved performance (speed) to better serve low-end Pentiums (133 MHz or less).

• Improved contrast enhancement mode: less video (audio) noise and other artefacts, support for up to 256 grey (loudness) levels added, and aliasing faults fixed for non-QSIF video modes (QSIF = 160 × 120, QCIF = 176 × 144). Several cosmetic improvements and other minor changes.

• Refined and extended color detection.

• Color detection has been added: The vOICe can now say the color of objects. In addition, several minor bugs and glitches have been fixed, including a file format problem with .bmp files for single frames.

• From user reports (thank you, Roger!) it was found that startup crashes occurred unless using a 24-bit or 32-bit "True Color" (16.7 million color) screen mode. This has been fixed, and the lower 16-bit "High Color" (65,000 color) and 8-bit (256 color) screen modes are now also supported.

• The delay between frame grabbing and actual sonification has been significantly reduced, thus better supporting real-time use.

• A Quad Speed (4 times normal speed) option was added to get very close to real-time movement tracking at the expense of audible image resolution. The latter is due to the auditory uncertainty relation. Nevertheless, in certain situations the near-synchrony between movement and auditory feedback might help with learning. A minor bug was fixed which previously led to a gradual increase in soundscape background noise while running the program.

• January 1, 1998, first public release of The vOICe for Windows (as "The vOICe Learning Edition").