By genius brother leads the AI team at Speechify
Education
By Genius Brother Leads the AI Team at Speechify
The first version of text-to-speech for Speechify was a collaborative effort, with Tyler doing most of the work and myself contributing in various capacities. Tyler, who is blind in his left eye and has astigmatism in his right eye, does all his work on a giant projector. He now leads the AI team at Speechify.
While I was in college, I continuously taught myself more about the program so that I could fix it whenever it broke. The original version of Speechify started as a Mac app on my computer. It allowed me to highlight words, use a keyboard shortcut, and have it read those words aloud.
Most Americans read at a pace of 200 words per minute, but by default, people using Speechify listen at 240 words per minute. Interestingly, most people can listen faster than they can read, especially today. In the first month, users typically increase their listening speed to 350 words per minute. Personally, I listen to everything at 700 words per minute, which is significantly faster than any other text-to-speech readers available at the time.
The program frequently broke down, so I had to keep fixing it. To improve my skills, I enrolled in a couple of computer science classes and eventually built a tool to parse PDFs for me.
Keywords
- Tyler
- Speechify
- Text-to-Speech
- Listening Speed
- Computer Science
- Mac App
- PDF Parser
- 200 words per minute
- 240 words per minute
- 350 words per minute
- 700 words per minute
FAQ
Q: Who primarily developed the first version of Speechify?
A: Tyler did most of the work, with some contributions from myself.
Q: What are Tyler's visual impairments?
A: Tyler is blind in his left eye and has astigmatism in his right eye.
Q: At what speed do most Americans read compared to Speechify's default listening speed?
A: Most Americans read at 200 words per minute, whereas Speechify's default listening speed is 240 words per minute.
Q: How quickly can users of Speechify increase their listening speed?
A: Users typically increase to 350 words per minute in the first month.
Q: What is the maximum speed at which the author listens to audio using Speechify?
A: The author listens at 700 words per minute.
Q: What steps did the author take to improve the Speechify program?
A: The author continuously fixed the program when it broke, took computer science classes, and built a tool to parse PDFs.