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ABSTRACT
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VO-CAL is a desktop calendar/appointment manager with a difference. The

calendar displays a nice looking interface, which is also very user friendly. Here, the user
first needs to enter the user id and password as a part of authentication. Then he can either
enter a new detail into the database or update an existing entry in it corresponding to a
day. At the same time, he can hear the voice recording of the details stored corresponding
to a date by clicking on the date in the calendar provided on the screen. The user can thus
store and retrieve the historical importance of the day. Also, there are facilities for setting
alarms, reminders and event management. The software can also choose whether it needs
the user to confirm the message and whether the message should be repeated every hour,
day, week or month. It can also have the appointments reminded to the user, one week and
then 3 days before they are due.

VO-CAL has two parts: one, the calendar holding the details corresponding to each
dates and another, the text to speech converter for producing the corresponding voice
output through speakers or headset. The synthesized speech can be created by
concatenating pieces of recorded speech that are stored in its database. Synthesizer can
incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics to create a
completely "synthetic" voice output.c

Benefits:c

The most important qualities of VO-CAL are naturalness and intelligibility.

Naturalness describes how closely the output sounds like human speech, while intelligibility
is the ease with which the output is understood. Thus, the software usually tries to
maximize both characteristics. Also, accessibility is another major benefit which allows
even a blind person to use the software to hear his reminders. Finally, VO-CAL helps us to
save time thereby maintaining our timeliness.

Applications:c

VO-CAL is ac vital accessible technology tool and its application in many areas is
significant and widespread. It allows environmental barriers to be removed for people with
a wide range of disabilities. The longest application has been in the use of screen readers
for people with visual impairments. In addition, they are frequently employed to aid those
persons with tight schedules to be followed by providing dedicated voice output of their
reminders.c

Conclusion:c

Thus, VO-CAL allows a normal as well as a disabled person to plan and schedule
their days with ease. It even saves a lot time by providing the voice output of the reminders
stored for the specific day. Finally, it¶s a known fact that listening provides a better level of
understanding than reading. c